code word

American  

noun

1. code name.

2. a euphemistic or politically acceptable catchword or phrase used instead of a blunter or less acceptable term.

   The official report said the diplomats had a “frank and serious discussion”—code words for “angry argument.”

---

Etymology

Origin of code word

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

“Pineapple,” I squeak, using our old code word to cut off the conversation.

From Literature

Pineapple is the code word Celia made up last summer, right after the two of us took a very unpleasant trip to visit Dad at this writing residency place on Lake Michigan where he was spending two months.

From Literature

“Hey, maybe she really is Chip’s birth mother. Or—or mine. Maybe that’s what witnesses really meant. Like, it’s a code word or something.”

From Literature

And given AI can now copy anybody’s voice in minutes, gather the family together and decide on a secret code word to use, to verify emergency calls are really coming who they say they are.

From The Wall Street Journal

In the age of deepfakes, every family needs a code word, writes Julie Jargon.

From The Wall Street Journal