Database

/biː-plʌs-triː/

noun — "optimized B-tree variant for database indexing."

/biː-triː/

noun — "balanced tree for efficient data retrieval."

/ˈdeɪtəˌbeɪs/

noun — "organized repository for structured data."

Database is a structured collection of data organized for efficient storage, retrieval, and management. It allows multiple users or applications to access, manipulate, and analyze data consistently and reliably. Databases are foundational in computing, enabling everything from enterprise resource management and financial systems to search engines and web applications. They ensure data integrity, concurrency control, and durability, supporting operational and analytical workloads simultaneously.

/ˈɪn.deks/

noun — "data structure for fast lookup."

Index is a specialized data structure used in computing and database systems to improve the speed and efficiency of data retrieval operations. It functions as a roadmap or table of contents, allowing a system to quickly locate the position of a desired item without scanning the entire dataset. Indexes are essential in relational and non-relational databases, search engines, file systems, and large-scale storage systems, where rapid access to specific records is critical.

/trænˈzækʃən/

noun — "atomic unit of work in computing."

Transaction is a sequence of operations performed as a single, indivisible unit in computing or database systems. A transaction either completes entirely or has no effect at all, ensuring system consistency. It encapsulates multiple read, write, or update actions that must succeed together, maintaining data integrity even under concurrent access or system failures.

/dʊˈrəbɪlɪti/

noun — "changes survive failures permanently."

Durability is a property of transactions in computing and database systems that guarantees once a transaction has been committed, its effects are permanent, even in the event of system crashes, power failures, or hardware malfunctions. This ensures that committed data is never lost and can be reliably recovered, maintaining the integrity of the system over time.

/ˌaɪ.səˈleɪ.ʃən/

noun — "operations shielded from external interference."

Isolation is a property of transactions in computing and database systems that ensures concurrent transactions execute independently without undesired interaction. Each transaction appears to operate in isolation from others, preventing phenomena such as dirty reads, non-repeatable reads, and phantom reads. This property preserves data consistency and integrity in multi-user or multi-process environments.

/əˈtɑː.mɪ.sɪ.ti/

noun — "all-or-nothing execution in operations."

Atomicity is a property of operations in computing and database systems that ensures a sequence of actions within a transaction are treated as a single, indivisible unit. Either all actions in the transaction complete successfully, or none are applied, leaving the system in a consistent state. Atomicity prevents partial updates that could lead to data corruption, inconsistencies, or unpredictable behavior.

/ˌɑːr-diː-ˈɛs/

n. “The managed database service that takes care of the heavy lifting.”

/ˈdʌbəl-juː-eɪ-ɛl/

n. “The journal that keeps your database honest.”