metadata
noun
Did you know?
How Metadata Was Formed
It's easy to find data on the source of "metadata": the word was formed by combining "data" with "meta-," which means "transcending" and is often used to describe a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one. "Meta-" was first used in that way in "metaphysics" and has been extended to a number of other disciplines, giving us such words as "metapsychology" and "metamathematics." "Metadata" takes the "transcending" aspect a step further, applying it to the concept of pure information instead of a discipline. "Metadata" is a fairly new word (it appeared in the latter half of the 20th century), whereas "data" can be traced back to the middle of the 17th century.
Examples of metadata in a Sentence
Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 July 2025
Watermarking and ensuring metadata has information about whether the song was created with AI would be a helpful step to see where the songs end up.
—Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Winner: Adobe Premiere Pro Project and Media Organization Premiere Pro can automatically tag your media with keywords based on its content (using Media Intelligence AI analysis) and metadata for easy searching later.
—PC Magazine, 9 June 2025
The photo was snapped on September 26, 2016, according to metadata.
—Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 8 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for metadata
Cite this Entry
“Metadata.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metadata. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share