---
id: dwd_xzf7arim
type: term
slug: business-glossary
title: "Business glossary"
summary: "The organization's agreed vocabulary: business terms, their definitions, synonyms and relationships."
status: draft
classification: public
authors:
  - name: Shan Umasankar
    url: https://dealwithdata.com
    role: author
assisted_by: [Claude]
scales: [personal, business, enterprise]
synonyms: ["glossary"]
broader: [dwd_6azimhas]
related: [dwd_wg5zzqg2, dwd_2p63wxfx]
created: 2026-10-07
updated: 2026-10-07
version: 1
---
A business glossary holds the words the business uses and what each one means, independent of any system. It is where "Customer", "Active Account" and "Outstanding Balance" get one agreed definition each, with synonyms and relationships between terms.

**Example:** *Outstanding Balance*: unpaid principal owed as of a date. Synonyms: UPB, principal balance.

**Not to be confused with** a [[data-dictionary]] (one system's columns) or a [[data-catalog]] (the inventory of everything).