keyhole

American  

[kee-hohl] / ˈkiˌhoʊl /

noun

1. a hole for inserting a key in a lock, especially one in the shape of a circle with a rectangle having a width smaller than the diameter of the circle projecting from the bottom.

2. Also called key.  Basketball. the area at each end of the court that is bounded by two lines extending from the end line parallel to and equidistant from the sidelines and terminating in a circle around the foul line.

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adjective

1. extremely private or intimate, especially with reference to information gained as if by peeping through a keyhole.

2. snooping and intrusive.

   a keyhole investigator.

keyhole British  

/ ˈkiːˌhəʊl /

noun

1. an aperture in a door or a lock case through which a key may be passed to engage the lock mechanism

2. any small aperture resembling a keyhole in shape or function

3. a transient column of vapour or plasma formed during the welding or cutting of materials, using high energy beams, such as lasers

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Etymology

Origin of keyhole

First recorded in 1585–95; key ¹ + hole

Example Sentences

For writers in the 1960s, middle-class infidelity offered a keyhole to deeper social themes—“the relation of individual to collective decadence,” the critic Wilfrid Sheed wrote of Updike’s fiction.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

Ms Brewster said that people can wait up to eight years for a diagnosis as it required a laparoscopy, a keyhole surgery procedure, to confirm the condition.

From BBC • Oct. 2, 2025

Spending his first months in office squeezing Gaetz and his ethics reports through a keyhole wasn’t worth the effort when a friendly neighborhood Pam Bondi was available.

From Slate • Dec. 4, 2024

Or through a mesh screen and a keyhole.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 20, 2024

She pushed the keyhole cover to the side, inserted the key, and turned it left three times.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

Related Words

• break
• crack
• crater
• cut
• dent
• gap
• mouth
• pit
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• window