What type of entity has data that is meaningful on its own without needing to reference another entity?

A strong entity is defined as an entity that can stand on its own without needing to reference any other entity. It has a primary key that uniquely identifies each instance of that entity, and its attributes contain data that conveys complete information. For example, consider a "Customer" entity where each customer can be uniquely identified by a Customer ID. This entity contains all the necessary information such as name, address, and contact details without requiring any reference to another entity to make sense of its data.

In contrast, a weak entity depends on a strong entity for its identification and does not have a primary key of its own, making it incomplete without a relationship to a strong entity. Therefore, it cannot be meaningful on its own. Additionally, terms like dependent and independent entity do not specifically define the independence in the context of the database structure, as these terms are less commonly used in formal database design terminology compared to strong and weak entities. This further reinforces why the concept of a strong entity aligns perfectly with the definition provided in the question, making it the correct choice.