Skip to content
Vol. I · No. 251
Mon · 8 Jun
A Daily Lexicon of Trustworthy Data
The Lexicon

005·74

data dictionary

/ˈdeɪ.tə ˈdɪk.ʃən.ɛr.i/ - n.

1 [colloq.] A faithful description of the column named 'cust_status_2_final', whose meaning died with its author.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. A catalog of a system's data elements — their names, types, formats, allowed values, and meanings — describing structure as built.

Filed
Seen in the wild · 1
See also
  • business glossaryA glossary in which the term 'owner' is the only entry without one.
  • metadataEverything we know about the data except whether anyone agreed what it means.
  • schema designAn afternoon of careful structure followed by two years of columns named after the ticket that demanded them.
data dictionary · Controlled Vocabulary