keyword

or key word

[ kee-wurd ]
See synonyms for keyword on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a word that serves as a key, as to the meaning of another word, a sentence, passage, or the like.

  2. a word used to encipher or decipher a cryptogram, as a pattern for a transposition procedure or the basis for a complex substitution.

  1. Also called catchword. Library Science. a significant or memorable word or term in the title, abstract, or text of a document or other item being indexed, used as the index entry.

  2. Digital Technology. a word used to classify or organize digital content, or to facilitate an online search for information: Search the database for the keyword “Ireland.”

Origin of keyword

1
First recorded in 1855–60; key1 + word

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use keyword in a sentence

  • This was the key-word given to the different members of the staff to be passed on down the line to every official in authority.

    The Wreckers | Francis Lynde
  • Marked changes of topics, for example, will be indicated by a long inflection upon the key-word.

  • And now this man—the ringleader who keeps the key word buried in secrecy—has the temerity to ask an audience with you.

    Meeting of the Board | Alan Edward Nourse
  • Unless they knew the key-word, they wouldn't have been any better off than are we—I mean than is the United States.

  • He knows his attempt to bribe me failed, and that the only way he can have access to the letter is to come with the key-word.

British Dictionary definitions for keyword

keyword

/ (ˈkiːˌwɜːd) /


noun
  1. a word used as a key to a code

  2. any significant word or phrase, esp a word used to describe the contents of a document

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012