bar code

British  

noun

1. Also called: Universal Product Code, UPC. commerce a machine-readable arrangement of numbers and parallel lines of different widths printed on a package, which can be electronically scanned at a checkout to register the price of the goods and to activate computer stock-checking and reordering

---

bar code Cultural  

1. A series of parallel lines that can be read by an optical scanner and decoded by a computer into usable information. The ten-line Universal Product Code (UPC) on the packaging of retail items is an example of this. The key to this code is the variation in line thickness and separation.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bar code

Instead of being laid out spatially, its wiring works more like a bar code, with distributed patterns of activity representing particular smells or complex memories.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

“It sort of served as the bar code for what became my entire artistic project,” he says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

For ticket inspections and to pass through barriers, the app will generate a bar code to scan.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2025

The machines scan the bar code on the back of the membership card, showing the membership record, including photo and status.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2024

The Gold-Bug had no bar code at all, but that made sense if Mr. Griswold had made it especially for his game.

From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---