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com
(http://www.dictionary.com/)
noun
1. a programmable electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display
the results of these operations. Mainframes, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones are some of the different types of
computers.
Compare analog computer (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/analog-computer), digital computer (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/digital-
computer).
Origin of computer
1640-1650
Related forms
computerlike, adjective
noncomputer, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2017.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/computer 1/5
11/16/2017 Computer | Define Computer at Dictionary.com
Contemporary Examples
In this war, the targeting is often happening on computer monitors thousands of miles away, capturing images from drones.
The resources were what you might expect: Dining room, a media center, a library, a TV room, a meeting room, a computer room.
His First Day Out Of Jail After 40 Years: Adjusting To Life Outside (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/03/his-first-day-out-of-jail-after-40-years-adjusting-to-life-
(http://www.thedailybeast.com?
outside.html?source=dictionary)
source=dictionary)
Justin Rohrlich (http://www.thedailybeast.com/contributors/justin-rohrlich.html?source=dictionary)
January 2, 2015
Just a few short years ago, I sat down at my computer, and I typed out a similar goodbye letter.
Dear Leelah, We Will Fight On For You: A Letter to a Dead Trans Teen (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/01/dear-leelah-we-will-fight-on-for-you-a-letter-to-a-dead-
(http://www.thedailybeast.com?
trans-teen.html?source=dictionary)
source=dictionary)
Parker Molloy (http://www.thedailybeast.com/contributors/parker-molloy.html?source=dictionary)
December 31, 2014
Turn off the TV, put down your phone, and log off the computer.
He grew up both a computer geek in the early days of video games and an avid record collector.
DJ Spooky Wants You To Question Everything You Know About Music, Technology, and Philosophy (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/27/dj-spooky-on-music-
(http://www.thedailybeast.com?
philosophy-and-the-joy-of-being-a-trickster.html?source=dictionary)
source=dictionary)
Oliver Jones (http://www.thedailybeast.com/contributors/oliver-jones.html?source=dictionary)
December 26, 2014
Historical Examples
Of course Ned was a perfect shotso would I be with a computer for a brain.
The or is simply one stroke, or one stick laid down by the computer.
It would be something like a computer; that was as far as he was able to go.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/computer 2/5
11/16/2017 Computer | Define Computer at Dictionary.com
computer
noun
1. a. a device, usually electronic, that processes data according to a set of instructions. The digital computer stores data in discrete units and
performs arithmetical and logical operations at very high speed. The analog computer has no memory and is slower than the digital computer
but has a continuous rather than a discrete input. The hybrid computer combines some of the advantages of digital and analog computers See
also digital computer (/browse/digital-computer), analog computer (/browse/analog-computer), hybrid computer (/browse/hybrid-computer)
b. (as modifier): computer technology, related prefix cyber-
1640s, "one who calculates," agent noun from compute (/browse/compute) (v.). Meaning "calculating machine" (of any type) is from 1897; in
modern use, "programmable digital electronic computer" (1945 under this name; theoretical from 1937, as Turing machine). ENIAC (/browse/eniac)
(1946) usually is considered the first. Computer literacy is recorded from 1970; an attempt to establish computerate (adjective, on model of
literate) in this sense in the early 1980s didn't catch on. Computerese "the jargon of programmers" is from 1960, as are computerize and
computerization.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A New York Congressman says the use of computers to record personal data on individuals, such as their credit
background, "is just frightening to me." [news article, March 17, 1968]
computer in Science
computer in Culture
computer definition
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/computer 3/5
11/16/2017 Computer | Define Computer at Dictionary.com
An electronic device that stores and manipulates information. Unlike a calculator (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/calculator), it is able to store a
program (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/program) and retrieve information from its memory. Most computers today are digital, which means
they perform operations with quantities represented electronically as digits.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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