data protection

noun

The act or process of protecting data from unauthorized use by ensuring security and privacy through consciously chosen and enforced rules and methods.

“This proposal has to be cleared by Legal, Human Resources, and Data Protection before it can proceed further.”

Meanings

noundata protection (usually uncountable, plural data protections)

plural data protections

  1. attributiveoftenuncountableusuallyThe act or process of protecting data from unauthorized use by ensuring security and privacy through consciously chosen and enforced rules and methods.

    The train company did not breach data protection law for publishing the clip during the so-called traingate controversy.

    2017 July 12, Katie Mansfield, “Virgin Trains cleared of rumbling Jeremy Corbyn with traingate CCTV clip”, in Daily Express
    2 more examples

    The links were mostly to newspaper articles and public records, and Google refused to comply, but with the “right to be forgotten” enshrined as a key objective of the European Union’s 2011 data protection strategy, more and bigger cases are likely to follow.

    2011 April 19, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, “Digital legacy: The fate of your online soul”, in NewScientist

    However, given current sensibilities about individual privacy and data protection, the recording of oral data is becoming increasingly onerous for researchers[.]

    2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 11

    Synonyms: data privacy

  2. capitalizedoftenuncountableusuallyThe business function (team, department, squad, etc) that leads others in their performance of this act or process.

    This proposal has to be cleared by Legal, Human Resources, and Data Protection before it can proceed further.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe act or process of protecting data from unauthorized use by ensuring security and privacy through consciously chosen and enforced rules and methods.

Translations

Catalan protecció de dades
  • protecció de dadesTranslations
French protection des données
  • protection des donnéesTranslations
Hungarian adatvédelem
  • adatvédelemTranslations
Indonesian perlindungan data
  • perlindungan dataTranslations
Spanish protección de datos
  • protección de datosTranslations
Swedish dataskydd
  • dataskyddTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

data protection. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/data%20protection

MLA

“data protection.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/data%20protection. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “data protection,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/data%20protection.

Source: data protection on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.