Definition: RDF

(1) See reality distortion field.

(2) (Resource Description Framework) The data model that describes the interrelationships between elements in some sphere of knowledge. All the linked vocabularies that make up the Semantic Web use the RDF model, which forms a graph of the connections. The data elements are identified by URIs, text or numbers, and the fundamental RDF structure is the "Triple." See URI.

  Theoretical RDF Triple Examples

  noun - Subject:    Pat
  verb - Predicate:  is president of
  noun - Object:     XYZ Company

  noun - Subject:    XYZ Company
  verb - Predicate:  is located in
  noun - Object:     Arizona

Formal Languages Define Ontologies
Two languages are used to define the meaning of the vocabularies graphed in the RDF model: the basic RDF Schema (RDFS) and the more comprehensive Web Ontology Language (OWL). See RDFS, OWL and ontology.

RDF Serializations
The RDF model identifies the elements, but the actual text format, called a "serialization" is written in RDF/XML (required for publishing and sharing) or some other syntax such as N3, Turtle, JSON-LD or RDFa. See Semantic Web, Turtle, JSON-LD and RDFa.