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1. Originally (with lower-case initial): a computer network comprising or connecting a number of smaller networks, such as two or more local area networks connected by a shared communications protocol; an internetwork; spec. such a network (called ARPANET) operated by the United States Department of Defense. In later use (usually the internet): the global network comprising a loose confederation of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols, which facilitates various information and communication systems such as the World Wide Web and email. Also: the resources accessible via this global network, esp. the World Wide Web. In early use usually attributive (see Compounds 1, Compounds 3).Sometimes shortened to the Net (see net n.¹ 7b).The ARPANET was established in 1969, and initially connected a number of universities, research organizations, and defence organizations. As standardized network protocols were developed, other networks were established using this same technology, which were subsequently connected to one another and to the ARPANET to form the modern global internet.Commercial and domestic use of the internet grew rapidly in the 1990s, at which time the World Wide Web (proposed in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee) became its most widely recognized application (causing internet and World Wide Web to be frequently taken as synonymous).