# information

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˌɪn.fəˈmeɪ.ʃn̩/ · frequency rank #357

## Definitions
1. Something that provides a definitive characterization or description of the nature and attributes of a specified entity.
2. Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something.
3. The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification.
4. A statement of criminal activity brought before a judge or magistrate; in the UK, used to inform a magistrate of an offence and request a warrant; in the US, an accusation brought before a judge without a grand jury indictment.
5. The act of informing against someone, passing on incriminating knowledge; accusation.
6. The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training.
7. The creation of form; the imparting of a given quality or characteristic; forming, animation.
8. The meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known conventions used in its representation.
9. Divine inspiration.
10. A service provided by telephone which provides listed telephone numbers of a subscriber.
11. Any unambiguous abstract data, the smallest possible unit being the bit.
12. The output resulting from the systematic collection, manipulation and organization of raw data into a structured, interpretable format.
13. Any ordered sequence of symbols (or signals) (that could contain a message).

## Etymology
From Middle English enformacioun, informacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman informacioun, enformation, Old French information, from Latin īnfōrmātiō (“formation, conception; education”), from the participle stem of īnformāre (“to inform”). Equivalent to inform + -ation.

## Easily confused with
- **informative** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/information-vs-informative)
- **informations** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/information-vs-informations)
- **informational** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/information-vs-informational)
- **informatics** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/informatics-vs-information)

## Common misspellings (17)
`ifnormation`, `infformation`, `infomration`, `inforamtion`, `informaiton`, `informasion`, `informatino`, `informationn`, `informatoin`, `informattion`, `informmation`, `informtaion`, `inforrmation`, `infromation`, `innformation`, `inofrmation`, `niformation`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/information