cryptographer
Americannoun
plural
cryptographersExplanation
JXYI YI Q IUSHUJ CUIIQWU. If you can decode what that sentence means, you might want to pursue a career as a cryptographer! A cryptographer is someone who makes or breaks coded messages. The earliest cryptographers created codes that made messages unreadable to anyone without the key for solving them. These keys, called ciphers, might substitute numbers for letters or switch the alphabet around. Today, cryptographers mainly work to encrypt computer data. Do you shop online without worrying about your credit card number being stolen? Thank a cryptographer!
Vocabulary lists containing cryptographer
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, an American computer-security specialist and cryptographer, served as CEO of Electric Coin Co., which Zcash co-founders formed to develop the coin’s blockchain.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
Its history is linked to WhatsApp: the site was founded by cryptographer and entrepreneur Moxie Marlinspike, with an initial $50 million from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton.
From Barron's • Apr. 25, 2026
The real breakthrough came from former NSA cryptographer Nick Patterson and researcher Peter Laufer.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 15, 2025
Dr Lasry, a computer scientist and cryptographer, working alongside Norbert Biermann, a pianist and music professor, and Satoshi Tomokiyo, a physicist and patents expert, uncovered 57 with the same cipher.
From BBC • Feb. 8, 2023
Sometimes Elizebeth also worked as a cryptographer, which meant that she was the one coming up with ways of obscuring the plaintext.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
