computed; computing; computes
: to determine especially by mathematical means
Compute the area of the triangle.
also
: to determine or calculate by means of a computer
computing pi to over one billion places
1
: to make calculation : reckon
They compute by weight in selling grain.
2
: to use a computer
3
informal
: to make sense
No matter how you do the math, it will not work. … It simply does not compute.—Chuck Finder
: the computational resources (such as memory and processing power) required for a computer or computer program to function
In the race for AI dominance, countries are rolling out data centers at breakneck speed to cope with the immense amounts of compute needed.—Graig Graziosi
Yes, we're going to have to make bigger models that use more compute per iteration. We're going to have to run them for longer by feeding more data into them.—Dario Amodei, quoted in The New York Times
The growth of private and public clouds, for both compute and storage purposes, has reduced the time and costs of installing and running applications precipitously.—Maha Ibrahim, quoted in Silicon Valley Business
—often used before another nouncompute power/capacity
millions of hours of compute time
Cite this Entry
“Compute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compute. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.
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