an organized body of related information
"The marketing team spent hours cleaning up the outdated database to ensure every customer record was accurate before launching the new campaign."
A collection of (usually) organized information in a regular structure, usually but not necessarily in a machine-readable format accessible by a computer.
"The librarian spent hours reorganizing the old paper records into our new digital database to make searching for books much faster."
In plain English: A database is a big collection of organized information stored on a computer that you can easily search and use.
"The company uses a large database to store all its customer information."
Usage: A database refers to an organized collection of information stored electronically for easy retrieval and management by computer systems. Use this term when describing digital records or structured data sets rather than physical files or unorganized notes.
To enter data into a database.
"Please make sure to update your records before you start entering new data into the database today."
In plain English: To database something means to put information into a computer system for storage and easy access.
"The company decided to database all their customer information for easier access."
Usage: Use "database" as a verb to describe the act of entering information into a system, though it is often better phrased as "to database records." In everyday usage, treat it primarily as a noun referring to the collection of organized data rather than an action.
The word database is a straightforward combination of the words data and base that emerged to describe an organized collection of information stored together. It was formed by merging these two existing terms rather than evolving from a single root or undergoing a complex meaning shift.