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

Sites must also consider how their algorithms – the computer code which recommends new content to users – could be harmful to young people and mitigate any risks.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

"The neural code of the brain is still mostly an unknown language," Vlasov said.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026

There will be a box at some stores, yes, but it contains a download code, not a disc.

From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026

Under the islands’ penal code, a single fender-bender with an endemic animal can carry severe consequences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

Sam pictured the inside of his own head, shiny steel with springs and teeth like a bear trap, grabbing at the Morse code and holding it tight so it would never escape.

From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry

It didn’t require him to work full time because customers can use emailed codes to access the facility.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

That knowledge could help policymakers strengthen building codes, improve earthquake resistant infrastructure, update evacuation plans, and better prepare communities for future disasters.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026

"We mentioned money on our invitations and also created print-out QR codes for people to scan at the bar," she says.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

The digital codes that contain the games’ licenses expire after they are redeemed.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

Not only was he compiling new codes for Army use, he was also teaching cryptography to Army officers, as well as breaking ciphers and codes on demand.

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

It also prohibits the use of “sell by” dates on food packaging, but it does allow coded “sell by” dates that retain stock rotation information for retailers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

One user posted a video of a clunky but functional clone of the videogame “Grand Theft Auto,” showing it being coded autonomously by Fable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

But that’s precisely what interests me: the coded way in which people are talking about this may betray something darker about our culture.

From Salon ● May 8, 2026

For the first time, enterprise AI solutions became the primary growth driver in the cloud division as customers coded agentic applications on the Gemini platform.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026

Its specialty was reading the coded cables of foreign diplomats who were based in the United States.

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

It’s seen as a sign that Meta is getting serious about its enterprise coding offerings.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

Claude’s viral popularity helped launch the “agentic” AI era, in which top AI companies are increasingly focused on building tools that customers can use to complete long-running knowledge-work tasks, such as coding and deep research.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

The early and intense AI adopters spent more than $100 per month per employee on AI and had their employees using advanced AI, such as coding subscriptions, as opposed to simple ChatGPT subscriptions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026

"This kind of predictive coding is something we associate with being awake and attentive, yet it's happening here in an unconscious state," said Dr. Benjamin Hayden, professor of neurosurgery at Baylor.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 29, 2026

He tucked the Taser under his arm and pounded in a whole string of coding on the Elucidator.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

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