Word.ws English Dictionary

datum

/ˈdeɪtəm/

datum noun: something known or assumed as fact, and is made the basis of reasoning or inference which an intellectual system of any sort (such as knowledge or theoretical framework) is constructed. Also the singular of data.

Noun

datum (plural (sense 1 and 2) data or (senses 3 and 4) datums)

  1. Something known or assumed as fact, and is made the basis of reasoning or inference which an intellectual system of any sort (such as knowledge or theoretical framework) is constructed.
    • a datum of experience
    • given this datum, it follows that
  2. A point, line, plane, or surface with reference to which positions (such as elevations) are measured or indicated. (Examples include a permanent benchmark in leveling or mean sea level in a topographical survey).
    • A geodetic datum is sometimes also called a benchmark.
    • GD&T tells us that the center of a bolt circle is in fact defined by the locations of the holes themselves, as each is a datum.
  3. A floating reference point, or SLDMB, used to evaluate surface currents in a body of water, and often employed by coastal search and rescue.

Verb

datum (third-person singular simple present datums, present participle datuming, simple past and past participle datumed)

  1. To provide missing data points by using a mathematical model to extrapolate values that are outside the range of a measuring device.
    • Removing the effects of any period of deformation by datuming or flattening selective reflection horizons should restore the structure prior to the datumed horizon, or the amount of deformation above the datumed horizon.1982, Paul M. Tucker, Pitfalls Revisited - Issue 3, →ISBN, page 6
    • On the left the stacking velocity functions are datumed to sea level and show great disparity.1998, Stuart Fagin, Model-based Depth Imaging, →ISBN, page 164

Also used as

datum is also the singular of data.

datum meaning in Hindi and Tamil

datum in Hindi

single piece of information
दत्त datt, प्रदत्त pradatt

datum in Tamil

single piece of information
தரவு taravu

Examples of datum in a sentence

  • Datums are another important map aspect related to projection.2007, Roger F Tomlinson, Thinking about GIS: geographic information system planning for managers:
  • A mathematical earth body fixed in space makes up the horizontal datum.2012, Yong-Qi Chen, Yuk-Cheung Lee, chapter 2.3, in Geographical Data Acquisition:

All 14 example sentences with datum

Synonyms of datum

Forms of datum

Noun
plural error-unknown-tagdata
plural error-unknown-tagdatums
Verb
third-person singular presentdatums
present participledatuming
past participledatumed
pastdatumed

Origin of datum

Learned borrowing from Latin datum, a nominalization of datus, perfect passive participle of dō, from Proto-Italic *didō, from Proto-Indo-European *dédeh₃ti, reduplication of *deh₃-, or from *-ti. Doublet of die.

Words formed from datum

Phrases with datum

Words that rhyme with datum

Questions about datum

What does datum mean?
Datum means something known or assumed as fact, and is made the basis of reasoning or inference which an intellectual system of any sort (such as knowledge or theoretical framework) is constructed.
What is datum in Hindi?
Datum in Hindi is दत्त (datt), प्रदत्त (pradatt). See Datum meaning in Hindi.
How do you use datum in a sentence?
Datums are another important map aspect related to projection.
What part of speech is datum?
Datum can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce datum?
Datum is pronounced /ˈdeɪtəm/.

Words near datum in the dictionary

  1. Datu Paglas
  2. Datu Piang
  3. Datu Salibo
  4. Datu Tangkilan
  5. Datu Unsay
  6. datum
  7. datum circle
  8. datum circles
  9. datum line
  10. datum lines
  11. datum plane

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: datum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-datum.wav.

Cite this entry: “datum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/datum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.