information
Pluralinformations (some meanings)
- 1Facts and knowledge about a topic that can be communicated to others.
The report contains detailed information on regional rainfall.
Reporters work hard to verify the information they gather.
UsageSay some information or a piece of information (not
incorrect: informations). It takes about or on.Similarfacts, details, data, knowledge, intelligence
- 2Data that has been processed, organized or interpreted so that it has meaning and can be used, as opposed to raw data.
The analysts processed the survey data into information the board could use.
Once cleaned and sorted, the readings yielded real information about traffic patterns.
- 3A desk, office, or counter that answers the public's questions and offers help, for example at a station or for tourists.
Ask at information whether the museum offers guided tours in Spanish.
Lost bags at this airport are handed in to information on the ground floor.
UsageAs a place it takes no article, like reception: ask at information, go to information.
Note
In full it is an information desk, booth or office. Calling information on the telephone meant something else, the directory service that gave out listed numbers.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Information also meant a telephone service supplying listed telephone numbers. en.wiktionary.org
- 4In computing and information theory, a measurable quantity carried by a sequence of symbols or signals, which reduces uncertainty and is counted in bits.
Engineers measure information in bits, bytes, and larger units.
Lossless compression stores the same information in fewer bits, which is why zipped files take up less space.
Similardata
Note
The measurable sense of the mathematician and engineer, treated as abstract data rather than as anything a person knows. Its basic unit is the bit, a single choice between two equally likely alternatives. Unlike the sense of processed, relevant data, this one asks nothing about relevance; any unambiguous data counts.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The technical sense treats information abstractly rather than requiring meaningful knowledge. princeton.edu
- The technical measure does not require semantic relevance. princeton.edu
- Information content depends on probabilities; an outcome that is certain conveys zero information, even if reported unambiguously. deeplearningbook.org
Less common meanings
- 5The act of informing someone or passing on knowledge; notification.
The sign was posted for the information of visitors entering the park.
He attached a short summary for the information of the committee.
UsageFor your information can sound sharp, like "I'll have you know"; for the information of staff is neutral and formal.
Similarnotification
- 6A telephone service that provides the listed phone numbers of subscribers on request.
Before smartphones, people dialed information to track down a business number.
He called information for the hotel's number, but the operator could not find it.
- 7Anything that resolves uncertainty by answering what a given thing actually is.
Until the lab results came back, we had no information about whether the mushroom was a safe variety or its poisonous look-alike.
The shape of the teeth was the key information, revealing that the fossil came from a plant-eater rather than a predator.
- 8A formal statement of criminal activity brought before a judge or magistrate to begin a prosecution.
The prosecutor filed an information charging the defendant with fraud.
Instead of seeking a grand jury indictment, the prosecutor filed an information charging him with burglary.
UsageUnlike everyday information, this one takes an: prosecutors file an information, or lay an information before a magistrate.
Note
In England and Wales it is laid before a magistrate, who may then issue a summons or an arrest warrant. In the US it lets a charge go forward without a grand jury indictment. Carl B. Cone's The English Jacobins (1968) records the Attorney General filing one against Paine on May 21, 1792, for seditious libel.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- In England and Wales, an information is laid before a magistrate, who may issue a summons or arrest warrant. legislation.gov.uk
- US prosecutors can file an information to proceed without a grand jury indictment. uscourts.gov
- Carl B. Cone wrote The English Jacobins, published in 1968. dsps.lib.uiowa.edu
- Cone records the Attorney General filing an information against Paine on May 21, 1792, charging seditious libel. en.wiktionary.org
- 9Inspiration believed to come directly from God; divine inspiration.
Similarinspiration, revelation
Note
Older Christian writing used the word for knowledge given by God rather than gained by study. It is a close cousin of inspiration and illumination. Read it as an act, not a store of facts. Divine information names God imparting something to the mind, much as the act of informing names a person doing so.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Information has an older Christian sense meaning divine inspiration. en.wiktionary.org
- The religious sense is related to inspiration and illumination. en.wikipedia.org
- 10Instruction given in an organized way; education or training.
Note
Here English keeps what the Latin already meant. Latin īnfōrmātiō covered "formation, conception; education" and comes from īnfōrmāre, "to inform." Teaching was pictured as giving shape to a mind.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The English education sense preserves a meaning of Latin īnfōrmātiō, whose meanings included formation, conception, and education. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin īnfōrmātiō derives from īnfōrmāre. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin īnfōrmāre can mean to inform. en.wiktionary.org
- The educational meaning reflects the idea of shaping the mind. en.wikipedia.org
- 11An accusation, or the act of reporting someone by passing on evidence that incriminates them.
Note
Older prose uses the word for informing against a person. Someone taken on the information of an associate was betrayed, not briefed.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Historically, information could mean informing against someone or accusation, supporting the interpretation of the illustrative arrest example. en.wiktionary.org
- 12The shaping or animating of something, or the act of giving it form or a particular quality.
Note
Read literally, the word means the giving of form, and this archaic sense keeps that meaning intact. It shares its Latin root with the old "education" meaning. Its home is Scholastic philosophy, where matter receives information from its form and the soul informs the body.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The word's literal etymological meaning is giving form. en.wiktionary.org
- The shaping and education senses share the Latin root informatio. capurro.de
- Scholastic philosophy uses information for the giving of form to matter. capurro.de
- In Scholastic philosophy, the soul informs the body. hume.ucdavis.edu
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English informacioun, borrowed through Anglo-Norman and Old French information, from Latin īnfōrmātiō ("formation, conception; education"), built on the verb īnformāre ("to inform"). It is equivalent to inform + -ation.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- English information derives from Middle English informacioun. en.wiktionary.org
- The borrowing passed through Anglo-Norman and Old French. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin source is īnfōrmātiō, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin noun derives from īnformāre, meaning 'to inform'. en.wiktionary.org
- Information is morphologically equivalent to inform + -ation. en.wiktionary.org