I. ˌinfə(r)ˈmāshən noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English informacioun, from enfourmen, informen to inform + -acioun -ation — more at inform
1.
a. obsolete : an endowing with form
b. obsolete : the act of animating or inspiring
c. obsolete : training , discipline , instruction
d. : the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence
the function of a public library is information
we enclose a price list for your information
2. : something received or obtained through informing: as
a. : knowledge communicated by others or obtained from investigation, study, or instruction
b. : knowledge of a particular event or situation : intelligence , news , advices
latest information from the battle front
securing information about conditions in the upper atmosphere
information bureau
c. : facts or figures ready for communication or use as distinguished from those incorporated in a formally organized branch of knowledge : data
reliable source of information
d. : a signal (as one of the digits in dialing a telephone number) purposely impressed upon the input of a communication system or a calculating machine
3. : the act of informing against a person or party
4.
a. : a formal accusation of a crime made by a prosecuting officer on information brought to his attention as distinguished from an indictment presented by a grand jury : complaint
b. : a pleading by an attorney general or other public officer setting forth a civil case or relief in which some public right of the state is asserted
c. : the document containing the depositions of the witnesses against one accused of crime
5. : the process by which the form of an object of knowledge is impressed upon the apprehending mind so as to bring about the state of knowing
6. : a logical quantity belonging to propositions and arguments as well as terms and comprising the sum of the synthetical propositions in which the term, proposition, or argument taken enters as subject or predicate, antecedent or consequent — see quantity 5c
7. : a numerical quantity that measures the uncertainty in the outcome of an experiment to be performed
when an event occurs whose probability was p, the event is said to communicate an amount of information log (1/ p ) — W.F.Brown b. 1904
the amount of information is defined, in the simplest cases, to be measured by the logarithm of the number of available choices — C.E.Shannon & Warren Weaver
Synonyms: see knowledge
II. noun
: the attribute inherent in and communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of something (as nucleotides in DNA or binary digits in a computer program) that produce specific effects