descriptor

[dih-skrip-ter]

noun

1. a significant word or phrase used to categorize or describe text or other material, especially when indexing or in an information retrieval system.

2. Computers.,  a data item that stores the attributes of some other datum.

   a task descriptor.

Word History and Origins

Origin of descriptor¹

First recorded in 1930–35, for an earlier sense; describe + -tor, with vowel change and devoicing by analogy with similar Latin derivatives

Example Sentences

While reviews were largely positive, The Quietus recoiled at the lack of heavy guitar anthems in a scathing screed that employed descriptors like "unintrusive", "clunking" and "by-numbers detritus".

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“Incredibly fast,” boasts the descriptor for this month’s Big Cottonwood in Salt Lake City.

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The district, called The Battery, prefers the grand descriptor of “the South’s preeminent lifestyle destination.”

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A week after signing a $52-million option for next season, LeBron James still owns the acronym of GOAT, only the descriptor has changed slightly: Greediest Of All Time.

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A severity descriptor on that alert sent it to weather radios and the nation’s Wireless Emergency Alerts system, which blasts weather warnings to cellphones to blare an alarm.

Read more on Salon