Databases: vocabulary and definitions (129 words)

This page gathers the 129 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Databases”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples.

analytic function noun window function
antijoin noun A type of join, denoted by ▷, such that R▷S yields only those tuples in R for which S has no corresponding tuple of the same value.
Armstrong's axioms noun A set of references (or, more precisely, inference rules) used to infer all the functional dependencies on a relational database.
autoextension noun The automatic growth of a data file when the allocated storage space is exhausted.
autojoin noun A type of join from a table to itself.
binary large object noun A data type that allows storage of binary data often of indeterminate length, used for example to embed multimedia within a database table.
bitemporal adj Keeping track of two timelines
bookmark noun A pointer found in a nonclustered index to a row in a clustered index or a table heap
Boyce-Codd normal form noun A stage in the normalization of a relational database in which a database is in third normal form and all determinants are candidate keys.
candidate key noun In the design of a database table, a column (or an irreducible group of them) able to identify every row of the table, having a unique…
capped collection noun In MongoDB, a fixed-size collection that, once the size limit has been reached, replaces the oldest record whenever a new one is added.
cardinality noun The property of a relationship between a database table and another one, specifying whether it is one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, or…
Cartesian product noun All possible combinations of rows between all of the tables listed.
clause noun A constituent (component) of a statement or query.
clustered adj Used as the clustering key of a clustered index.
clustered index noun a type of database index that physically sorts the data in a table on the disk to match the criteria specified by the index.
coalesce verb To convert a null value to a defined value.
coercibility noun The ability of a string to override the collation of another string.
cold adj Rarely used or accessed, and thus able to be relegated to slower storage.
collation noun The specification of how character data should be treated stored and sorted.
columnstore noun A database storage method that stores data tables by columns rather than rows, optimizing for analytical query performance.
commit noun The act of committing (e.g. a database transaction), making it a permanent change; such a change.
commit point noun In a DBMS, a point in time at which all updates to a database, or group of records in a database, are guaranteed to have been written to…
constraint noun A linkage or other restriction that maintains database integrity.
crosswalk verb To map equivalent elements (fields) in different database schemas.
crow's foot noun A symbol, resembling a bisected equilateral triangle, used in database diagrams to indicate plurality.
curation noun The manual updating of information in a database.
cursor noun A reference to a row of data in a table, which moves from row to row as data is retrieved by way of it.
data mining noun A technique for searching large-scale databases for patterns; used mainly to find previously unknown correlations between variables that…
data model noun A result of applying a data modeling to some particular application, using a database model such as relational.
data table noun A table stored in, or derived from, a database.
database administrator noun A person who is responsible for the logical and physical design of databases, and normally for all aspects of their recoverability…
database engine noun The underlying component that a database management system uses to create, retrieve, update and delete data.
database key noun A unique identifier in the database management system IDMS, which indicates the record occurrence's physical location in the database.
database management system noun A suite of interrelated computer programs designed to manage message processing and database update in a tightly controlled manner.
datasheet noun A display of the records in a table, arranged in rows and columns.
denormalize verb To add redundancy to (a database schema), the opposite of normalization, typically in order to optimize its performance.
denormalized adj Containing redundant data to improve performance.
dependency theory noun A subfield of database theory which studies implication and optimization problems related to logical constraints.
dynaset noun A data set taken from a larger database and linked back to it, so that local changes to the data are propagated back to the parent database.
entity noun Anything about which information or data can be stored in a database; in particular, one item in an organised array or set of individual…
equijoin noun A join whose predicate uses only equality comparisons.
escrowable adj Suitable for partitioning.
exogenous adj Having no meaning in itself, such as an automatically generated sequential identifier.
fact noun An individual value or measurement at the lowest level of granularity in a data warehouse.
fifth normal form noun A stage in the normalization of a relational database in which a database is in fourth normal form and every join dependency is implied by…
first normal form noun A stage in the normalization of a relational database in which repeating groups and attributes have been eliminated by putting each into a…
flashback noun A query that operates against data from an earlier time, before it was changed.
foreign key noun A column (or group of columns) in a relational table that identifies another table, so that items in the two tables can be conceptually…
fourth normal form noun A stage in the normalization of a relational database in which a database is in Boyce-Codd normal form and all multi-valued dependencies…
full outer join noun A join yielding a set of records for two tables, where all rows of the "left" table are enlisted with all rows of the "right" table, even…
golden record noun A single authoritative record on an individual customer etc. that draws from various other data sources.
hierarchical database noun A database whose records are linked in a tree-like structure, each child record having a single primary parent.
hint noun An instruction to the database engine as to how a query should be executed, for example whether to use an index or not.
identifier noun A primary key.
image copy noun A backup copy of a database in a format that may be used, along with incremental logs, to recreate the database after a hardware failure
index noun An integer or other key indicating the location of data, e.g. within an array, vector, database table, associative array, or hash table.
isolation noun A database property that determines when and how changes made in one transaction are visible to other concurrent transactions.
join noun An intersection of data in two or more database tables.
key noun In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
keyset noun A set of keys (unique identifiers) used to distinguish the rows of data being traversed by a cursor.
keyspace noun A NoSQL object that includes column families.
lakehouse noun Ellipsis of data lakehouse.
latch verb To use a latch (kind of lightweight lock).
left outer join noun A join yielding a set of records for two tables, where all rows of the "left" table are enlisted with all rows of the "right" table, even…
materialization noun The creation of a temporary table containing the results of a database query.
materialize verb To perform materialization; to save the results of a database query as a temporary table or materialized view.
mirror server journal noun A mechanism used to maintain data consistency and support recovery by recording any changes that are made in data.
multitable adj Encompassing or affecting multiple tables.
natural key noun A unique key formed from attributes that relate to the external world being modelled, rather than being an internally generated surrogate…
nonclustered index noun a type of database index that contains a series of sorted pointers pointing to the physical data rows, which are organized either in a heap…
normal form noun Any of various forms of a relational database providing criteria for determining a table's degree of vulnerability to logical…
normalization noun In relational database design, a process that breaks down data into record groups for efficient processing, by eliminating redundancy.
normalize verb To subject to normalization; to eliminate redundancy in (a model for storing data).
parameterize verb To rewrite (a database query, etc.) as a template into which parameters can be inserted.
partition noun A division of a database or one of its constituting elements such as tables into separate independent parts.
pessimistic concurrency noun A database management system strategy that locks data in order to prevent conflicts between transactions.
prepared statement noun A database query that has parameters which are replaced by values when it is executed, instead of the values being part of the statement…
prewrite noun A write operation that is buffered instead of being applied directly to the database.
primary key noun In the design of a database table, the primary key (abbreviated PK) is selected among the non-empty set of candidate keys. The PK is a…
query noun A set of instructions passed to a database.
query language noun Any of several generalized computer languages in which users may extract data from selected records in a database.
query processing noun Processing to extract data from a database and present it for use.
referential integrity noun The property of a relational database that enforces valid relationships between tables, such that no foreign key can contain a value that…
relation noun A set of tuples, implemented as a table in a relational database.
relational adj Of a database technology using tables and adhering to Codd’s 12 rules.
relational database noun A database consisting of separate tables, having explicitly defined relationships, and whose elements may be selectively combined as the…
right outer join noun A join yielding a set of records for two tables, where all rows of the "right" table are enlisted with all rows of the "left" table, even…
role-based adj based on a special given role to access a content; used usually in cloud computing, databases, or other complex systems.
rollback verb To return to the previous state.
rowstore noun A database storage method that organizes data by rows, storing all fields of a record together. This design is best for transactional…
savepoint noun A point during a transaction at which changes are committed, and to which the user can roll back if necessary.
schema noun A formal description of the structure of a database: the names of the tables, the names of the columns of each table, and the data type and…
scrub verb To eliminate or to correct data from a set of records to bring it inline with other similar datasets
second normal form noun A stage in the normalization of a relational database in which it is in first normal form and every non-key attribute is dependent upon the…
select verb To obtain a set of data from a database using a query.
selection noun A set of data obtained from a database using a query.
shard noun A component of a sharded distributed database.
sharding noun A decomposition of a database into multiple smaller units that can handle requests individually.
skip-level adj Having the form of a hierarchy, but with some of the intermediate levels omitted.
skyline verb To filter by means of the skyline operator.
skyline operator noun A proposed operator, for use in database queries, that filters out results that are worse than others according to multiple criteria.
snowflake verb To arrange (data) into a snowflake schema.
soft deletion noun An operation in which a flag is used to mark data as unusable, without erasing the data itself from the database.
stale read noun A read operation that fetches an incorrect value from a source that has not synchronised an update operation to the value.
star schema noun A denormalized database schema consisting of one or more fact tables referencing any number of dimension tables.
subjoin noun A subordinate or secondary join.
subquery noun A query embedded within a more extensive query, relating only to the data returned by the parent query.
subselect noun A select query inside another select query.
superkey noun Any set of attributes of a relation variable (relvar) that serve to identify a single tuple or row, no other tuple having the same value…
surrogate noun Ellipsis of surrogate key.
synonym noun An alternative (often shorter) name defined for an object in a database.
table noun A lookup table, most often a set of vectors.
tailable adj Of a cursor: not closed when the end of the resultset is reached, but able to be used as further documents are added to the collection.
third normal form noun A stage in the normalization of a relational database in which a database is in second normal form and all non-key attributes are mutually…
time travel noun The ability to access previous states of a database.
transaction time noun The time during which a fact stored in the database, represented by all the information in a row, is considered to be true and in effect.
transitive dependency noun An attribute of a relation that depends on a key but also on a third attribute which is not a key; this is a violation of third normal form.
trigger noun An SQL procedure that may be initiated when a record is inserted, updated or deleted; typically used to maintain referential integrity.
triplestore noun A database designed for the storage and retrieval of RDF (Resource Description Framework) metadata in the form of triples representing…
tuple noun A single row in a relational database.
undrop verb To undelete.
unique key noun A set of one or more than one columns or fields of a table that uniquely identifies a record in a database table.
upsert verb To insert rows into a database table if they do not already exist, or update them if they do.
vacuum verb To optimise a database or database table by physically removing deleted tuples.
varchar noun A text field of indeterminate length in a database, as opposed to the traditional fixed-length field.
view noun A virtual or logical table composed of the result set of a query in relational databases.
window function noun A function that performs a calculation using values from several rows, but does not group them into a single row.
witness noun An additional database server instance used in failover scenarios to decide whether the mirror should take over.

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