data mining
compound.compound. the process of using computers to find hidden patterns or useful information in very large amounts of facts and numbers.
compound. the practice of examining large pre-existing databases in order to generate new information or identify significant patterns and trends.
The company uses data mining to understand what customers want.
Retailers often use data mining to analyze purchase histories and predict which products will be popular during the holiday season.
Advanced data mining techniques allow researchers to identify subtle correlations within genomic datasets that would be impossible for a human analyst to detect manually.
A compound formed from the noun data and the gerund mining. The term employs a geological metaphor, likening the extraction of information from a digital mass to the removal of minerals from the earth.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated July 22, 2026