semantic network

data A graph consisting of nodes that represent physical

or conceptual objects and arcs that describe the relationship

between the nodes, resulting in something like a data flow

diagram. Semantic nets are an effective way to represent data

as they incorporate the inheritance mechanism that prevents

duplication of data. That is, the meaning of a concept comes

from its relationship to other concepts and the information is

stored by interconnecting nodes with labelled arcs.

(1999-01-07)