Other forms: downloaded; downloads; downloading
When you’ve got files on one computer that you need to transfer onto another, you’ll need to download or copy the data onto a portable drive to move it.
Back before the internet brought the world to our fingers, the word download was used mainly to describe the process of copying files or data from one computer to another. But these days, you can download or copy, just about anything from the internet — from music to movies to books. Another thing you can download, if you aren’t careful, is a virus, so be wary before you go transferring all kinds of files to your computer.
Definitions of download
-
verb
transfer a file or program from a central computer to a smaller computer or to a computer at a remote location
see moresee less-
Antonyms:
-
upload
transfer a file or program to a central computer from a smaller computer or a computer at a remote location
-
type of:
-
transfer
move from one place to another
-
upload
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘download’.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
Send us feedback
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Look up download for the last time
Close your vocabulary gaps with personalized learning that focuses on teaching the
words you need to know.
Sign up now (it’s free!)
Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.
Get started
Noun
The modem is capable of high-speed downloads.
The download will take about three minutes.
The program is available for download at the company’s website.
The downloads are all in this folder.
Verb
He downloaded the files onto his computer.
She downloads songs from the Internet.
The new program makes downloading faster.
See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Although apps allowing wireless transmission and capture of digital driver’s license data have been available for download from Apple and Android stores since November 2021, few police agencies or businesses in Florida have adopted the technology.
—
Ron Hurtibise, Sun Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2023
Microsoft also requires using its browser or mobile app to give the Bing chatbot a try, fueling a surge in downloads.
—WIRED, 27 Mar. 2023
The Alabama Connectivity Plan said 19 percent of addresses in the state did not have access to what the state defines as broadband, a minimum download speed of 100 megabits per second and upload speed of 20 megabits per second, or 100/20.
—Mike Cason | Mcason@al.com, al, 26 Mar. 2023
Meanwhile, the spike in app downloads has coincided with a surge in overall crypto prices.
—Jeff John Roberts, Fortune Crypto, 21 Mar. 2023
These internet connections offer a minimum of 100 Mbps download speed, which allows a family of four to use video conference software, stream movies and watch television shows.
—Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2023
And the company’s Super Bowl TV ad generated a 53 percent day-over-day spike in downloads.
—Hiawatha Bray, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Feb. 2023
The drama theme song is showing the effects of media exposure, improving in two metrics — streaming, which increased 56.4 percent from the previous week, and video, which rose 57.6 percent — and holding with minimal point declines in downloads and radio.
—Billboard Japan, Billboard, 22 Feb. 2023
Streaming and gaming services successfully surged in downloads by launching new content.
—Emily Dreibelbis, PCMAG, 17 Feb. 2023
In early March, a group of independent international scientists noticed the data, eagerly downloaded it, and began analyzing it while reaching out to the China CDC scientists about a possible collaboration.
—Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 6 Apr. 2023
Through March 9, the driver’s license app had been downloaded 142,803 times from the Apple and Android stores.
—Ron Hurtibise, Sun Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2023
Twitter has asked a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to order Github to reveal the identity of the user who initially posted the code, as well as those who may have accessed and downloaded it.
—Peter Suciu, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2023
Read full article Twitter also asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to order GitHub to identify the person who shared the code and any other individuals who downloaded it, according to the filing.
—Ryan Mac, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Mar. 2023
To be sure, users would still be able to get around the bans to view TikTok content and download it from other sources by using virtual private networks that mask the location of a device.
—Irina Ivanova, CBS News, 24 Mar. 2023
Its digital book platform, Magapoke was launched in July 2015 and to date has been downloaded nearly 20 million times.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 21 Mar. 2023
The app has been downloaded 400 million times in the U.S.
—Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY, 31 Mar. 2023
There is also an app, called Alabama Home Recovery, that can be downloaded from either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
—Margaret Kates | Mkates@al.com, al, 29 Mar. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘download.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
- Top Definitions
- Quiz
- Related Content
- Examples
- British
- Scientific
This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.
[ doun-lohd ]
/ ˈdaʊnˌloʊd /
Computers.
This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.
verb (used with object)
to transfer (software, data, character sets, etc.) from a distant to a nearby computer, from a larger to a smaller computer, or from a computer to a peripheral device.
noun
software, data, etc., that has been downloaded: the best free music downloads.
the act or process of downloading.
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Which sentence is correct?
Origin of download
Words nearby download
Downing Street, down in the dumps, “Down in the Valley”, downlight, downlink, download, down-low, down-market, down on, down one’s alley, down one’s neck
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Words related to download
load, log in, compute, computerize, digitize, initialize, input, program, run, boot up, crunch numbers, keyboard, key in, log out
How to use download in a sentence
-
Delays in receiving downloads, or latency, were also “super-low,” SpaceX said.
-
It also threatened to sue Apptopia, an app intelligence company, when the latter published a report suggesting that Triller had inflated download numbers.
-
Now the question is, does this visibility convert into app downloads.
-
Books By Kilo has seen a 40% increase in sales and customer interactions since March thanks to WhatsApp Business, a free-to-download mobile app that acts as a storefront for small businesses on the world’s largest instant messaging app.
-
Data from mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower suggests that, so far, most apps have not seen the download rates they need to effectively curtail the spread of coronavirus.
-
Just download the Virtual Joey App and you are ready to stream DISH service right to that screen.
-
Or should people be free to download and print anything they so choose?
-
“All About That Bass” was released as a digital download on June 2, and later as one of two tracks on her EP Title, out Sept. 9.
-
Users also require the bandwidth and patience to download large files (Flames of War is nearly a gigabyte).
-
At least two versions of the full HD download are available on Gulfup and have been downloaded 21,550 and 5,600 times.
-
Links are provided to the Project Gutenberg download page for the designated work.
-
To download text on the network is quite different from displaying images.
-
Download the zipped html version of each volume from the PG Catalog.
-
If the book is under copyright in your country, do not download or redistribute this file.
-
For full functionality of this file, download the html version.
British Dictionary definitions for download
verb (tr)
to copy or transfer (data or a program) into the memory of one computer system from a larger one
to broadcast specialist programmes, for such groups as doctors, outside normal broadcasting hours. They are often recorded on video tapes and viewed laterCompare upload
esp Canadian to delegate or assign (work, responsibilities, costs, etc) to a someone at a lower level of an organization; off-load
noun
a file transferred onto a computer from another computer or the internet
Derived forms of download
downloadable, adjective
Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for download
To transfer data or programs from a server or host computer to one’s own computer or digital device. Compare upload.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
-
Defenition of the word download
- Transfer data from a server to the local computer.
- transfer a file or program from a central computer to a smaller computer or to a computer at a remote location
Hypernyms for the word download
-
- transfer
Antonyms for the word download
-
- upload
See other words
-
- What is be off
- The definition of reaching
- The interpretation of the word reached
- What is meant by reachable
- The lexical meaning reaches
- The dictionary meaning of the word downiest
- The grammatical meaning of the word multiplicity
- Meaning of the word make contact with
- Literal and figurative meaning of the word stretch to
- The origin of the word goads
- Synonym for the word goalie
- Antonyms for the word goalies
- Homonyms for the word goaling
- Hyponyms for the word goalposts
- Holonyms for the word goatee
- Hypernyms for the word goaltender
- Proverbs and sayings for the word goalkeepers
- Translation of the word in other languages goatees
Now, the drama of the change is such that consumers who download music have been characterised as enemies of the music industry.
An ‘ok’ program can download programs but it can only write to the directory /tmp and cannot use system/1 to delete files.
All operations ran with command-line tools that can be downloaded.
Unless indicated otherwise, all online sources were downloaded on their date of posting.
The resources used via context switching are socket connections for downloading pages and local storage for programs.
Whenever users tried to download the song, they heard this scorning voiceover instead.
There is an accompanying website that hosts sample pages, some illustrations to download (though not perhaps the most valuable ones!) and worked exercises.
As many as 42% of them listened to or downloaded music daily, and 28% listened 3-6 times in a week.
Some of these other files might be tar’d up bundles for convenient download; whatever you provide we’ll use.
Will this mean traditional mail order, or download to a device in the home?
For instance, articles or other scientific data can be downloaded from repositories.
The table also contains the size of each file and an estimate of its download time depending on the network speed.
There is also a section giving web-links for users to download software for powder diffraction studies.
When there is such a call, program count/1 is checked to see if the number of programs downloaded exceeds 100.
The critical point is that the input operation could have been programmed to download a malicious component from a remote, untrusted, host.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.