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Databases & SQL vocabulary · Database Basics

Relational database

Meaning in databases & SQL, with examples

/rɪˈleɪʃənəl ˈdeɪtəbeɪs/nounCore term

In databases & SQL, relational database means: A type of database that stores data in tables made of rows and columns and links tables to each other through keys. Data is usually managed with SQL.

In Turkish: ilişkisel veritabanı

How it is used

Based on the relational model that Edgar F. Codd described in 1970. PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server and SQLite are the best-known examples. The phrase is used mostly when comparing with NoSQL systems or in courses and architecture documents.

Example sentences

  1. For payments we chose a relational database because we need strict consistency and transactions.

  2. Most relational databases today also support JSON columns.

Common collocations

  • relational database management system
  • relational model
  • use a relational database
  • relational data
  • databaseAn organized collection of data stored on a computer so that programs and people can quickly find, add, change and remove information.
  • DBMSDatabase management system: the software that stores the data, runs queries, controls access and keeps data safe, such as PostgreSQL or Oracle.
  • tableA structure in a relational database that stores data about one kind of thing in rows and columns, for example all customers or all orders.
  • SQLStructured Query Language: the standard language used to create tables and to read, add, change and delete data in relational databases.
  • NoSQLA broad group of databases that do not use the classic table-and-SQL model, storing data as documents, key-value pairs, wide columns or graphs instead.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Database Basics

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