code

American  

[kohd] / koʊd /

noun

• codes
  plural

1. a system for communication by telegraph, heliograph, etc., in which long and short sounds, light flashes, etc., are used to symbolize the content of a message.

   Morse code.

2. a system used for brevity or secrecy of communication, in which arbitrarily chosen words, letters, or symbols are assigned definite meanings.

3. indirect wording that is euphemistic, deceptive, or opaque.

   The firm says its testing methodology is “proprietary”—which some believe is code for “hidden from scrutiny.”

4. any set of standards set forth and enforced by a local government agency for the protection of public safety, health, etc., as in the structural safety of buildings building code, health requirements for plumbing, ventilation, etc. sanitary code or health code, and the specifications for fire escapes or exits fire code.

5. a systematically arranged collection or compendium of laws, rules, or regulations.

6. any authoritative, general, systematic, and written statement of the legal rules and principles applicable in a given legal order to one or more broad areas of life.

7. a word, letter, number, or other symbol used in a code system to mark, represent, or identify something.

   The code on the label shows the date of manufacture.

8. Computers.

   1. a set of symbols that can be interpreted by a computer or piece of software: Java code;

      binary code;

      Java code;

      ASCII code.

   2. the symbolic arrangement of statements or instructions in a computer program, or the set of instructions in such a program.

      That program took 3000 lines of code.

9. any system or collection of rules and regulations.

   a gentleman's code of behavior.

10. Medicine/Medical. a directive or alert to a hospital team assigned to emergency resuscitation of patients.

11. Genetics. genetic code.

12. Linguistics.

    1. the system of rules shared by the participants in an act of communication, making possible the transmission and interpretation of messages.

    2. (in sociolinguistic theory) one of two distinct styles of language use that differ in degree of explicitness and are sometimes thought to be correlated with differences in social class.

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verb (used with object)

• codes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• coded,
  past participle,  past
• coding
  present participle

1. to translate (a message) into a code; encode.

2. to categorize or identify by assigning a code to.

   All specimens were coded prior to the test.

3. to arrange or enter (laws or statutes) in a code.

4. Computers. to write code for (a computer program or application) (often followed byup ).

   Hire a programmer to code up a website for you.

verb (used without object)

• codes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• coded,
  past participle,  past
• coding
  present participle

1. Genetics. to specify the amino acid sequence of a protein by the sequence of nucleotides comprising the gene for that protein.

   a gene that codes for the production of insulin.

2. Computers. to write computer code.

code British  

/ kəʊd /

noun

1. a system of letters or symbols, and rules for their association by means of which information can be represented or communicated for reasons of secrecy, brevity, etc See also genetic code

   binary code

   Morse code

2. a message in code

3. a symbol used in a code

4. a conventionalized set of principles, rules, or expectations

   a code of behaviour

5. a system of letters or digits used for identification or selection purposes

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verb

1. to translate, transmit, or arrange into a code

code Scientific  

/ kōd /

1. A system of signals used to represent letters or numbers in transmitting messages.

2. The instructions in a computer program. Instructions written by a programmer in a programming language are often called source code. Instructions that have been converted into machine language that the computer understands are called machine code or executable code.

3. See also programming language

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code Cultural  

1. A series of instructions designed to be fed into a computer.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• coder
  noun
• subcode
  noun
• precode
  verb (used with object)
• recode
  verb (used with object)
• codeless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• codes
  plural

Participles

• coding
  present
• coded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• code
  simple
• codes
  simple
• have coded
  perfect
• has coded
  perfect
• am coding
  progressive
• are coding
  progressive
• is coding
  progressive
• have been coding
  perfect progressive
• has been coding
  perfect progressive

Past

• coded
  simple
• had coded
  perfect
• was coding
  progressive
• were coding
  progressive
• had been coding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will code
  simple
• will have coded
  perfect
• will be coding
  progressive
• will have been coding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of code

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin cōdex “book”; see codex

Explanation

A code can be a set of principles. Our laws make up our legal code, and many people govern themselves through a personal "code of honor." Code can also mean a system for sending secret messages, or programming language for computers. In 1303, you could only use code to mean a set of laws, such as a code of conduct. It wasn’t until 1808 that you could use code to describe a system for sending secret messages. The verb form appeared in 1815, meaning to create laws or send secret messages, and gave birth to encode. In the computer programming context, encode was shortened back again to code, meaning to write instructions for a computer program. Soon the lines of text themselves began to be referred to as simply code.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

code codes coded coding

Even if someone steals or guesses your password, they can’t access your camera without an extra code sent to your phone or email, or supplied by an authentication app.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

On set, she shrugs off the restrictive moral code of her pop career.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

That required him to learn to write code.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

"But openness also benefits defenders: researchers can inspect the code, identify weaknesses and improve protection."

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Our job was not in itself complicated: Answer the line, match the code name to a number, insert the right plug into the right jack, connect the telephone call.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

SKUs, or stock-keeping units, are unique codes used to track product variations.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

But some command codes require only a last name, and that approach can bypass IRS detection, the report said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

The Pentagon this year condensed more than 200 religious affiliation codes to 31, initially eliminating specific classifications for atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans and Wiccans, among others.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026

This regulator would be able to set codes of practice, such as standards of conduct and proper complaint handling for those they regulate, and property agents will be required to obtain a licence.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

Soon they were breaking even the toughest codes and ciphers.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

These, too, are world models, though they are painstakingly coded and highly specialized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

For another, Formula 1 and soccer, sports frequently coded as elite and coastal, are experiencing booms of popularity across the country.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

As Thaler and Johnson wrote: “Until the winnings are completely depleted, losses are coded as reductions in a gain, as if losing some of ‘their money’ doesn’t hurt as much as losing one’s own cash.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

If this had been coded correctly, a "timelier" ambulance response would "likely" have been sent.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

“Your father’s Polish dictionary. The coded message saying he would be proud. And then she organizes the trip to Poland. A dangerous trip.”

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Microsoft's in-house models currently only power a few products, such as GitHub's Copilot coding tool.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Some developers turn to pre-built, commercially available engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine, rather than reckon with the challenge of coding from scratch.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

It’s the tech that’s powering its creepy glasses, its open-source coding model, and now its bid into the battle of personal agents that will basically turn the experience of scrolling online into a water slide.

From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026

Now, as Piecha combed the web for other places the bots might have gathered, she discovered a similar message, buried in an online coding service called RubyGems.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Middletown was one of his pet projects, and he’d spent years coding and refining it.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• constitution
• convention
• custom
• discipline
• laws
• regulation
• rules
• system