keyboard
Americannoun
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keyboards
plural
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the row or set of keys on a piano, organ, or the like.
I was playing piano before my feet could reach the pedals or my fingers could cover a chord on the keyboard.
-
a set of keys, usually arranged in tiers, for operating a typewriter, computer, cash register, or the like, or a digital representation of the same on a touchscreen used to type on a device such as a smartphone or tablet.
I spilled coffee on my keyboard, and now the return key sticks so my documents are full of extra line breaks.
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any of various musical instruments played by means of a pianolike keyboard, as a piano, electric piano, or organ.
You basically need four people to start a rock band—someone on lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and keyboard.
verb (used with or without object)
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keyboards,
present (3rd person singular)
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keyboarded,
past participle, past
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keyboarding
present participle
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Also key in to enter (data) into a computer by means of a keyboard.
If you can get changes keyboarded by Monday, we should still be able to make the project deadline.
-
to set (text) in type, using a machine that is operated by a keyboard.
noun
-
-
a complete set of keys, usually hand-operated, as on a piano, organ, typewriter, or typesetting machine
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( as modifier )
a keyboard instrument
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(often plural) a musical instrument, esp an electronic one, played by means of a keyboard
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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keyboardsimple
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keyboardssimple
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have keyboardedperfect
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has keyboardedperfect
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am keyboardingprogressive
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are keyboardingprogressive
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is keyboardingprogressive
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have been keyboardingperfect progressive
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has been keyboardingperfect progressive
Past
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keyboardedsimple
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had keyboardedperfect
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was keyboardingprogressive
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were keyboardingprogressive
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had been keyboardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of keyboard
Explanation
What do pianos and computers have in common? They both have keyboards! A computer keyboard has numbers and letters, but a piano keyboard has musical notes. The keyboard is the part that you press with your fingers. Besides the rockin’ keyboard of a synthesizer, piano, or organ, there is also the computer keyboard. This keyboard is used for typing, with the earliest examples being the keyboards on typewriters. Occasionally, the word keyboard is used as a verb, meaning "to type on keyboard." It’s also, literally, a board with little hooks to hang the other kind of keys on. The musical instrument meaning came first, around 1819.
Vocabulary lists containing keyboard
Computer Science and Technology - Introductory
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Music - Introductory
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Music - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
Mr. Sosa made able use of his small instrumental ensemble of string quartet, bass, percussion and keyboard to create mood, texture and propulsion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Meanwhile, with “In My Life,” listeners are treated to multiple takes in which Martin transforms the song’s Bach-like keyboard interlude from a Hammond organ solo into a piano flourish for the ages.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
Visually, the entire set was stunning, with fast cuts of Nancy Whang pounding on her keyboard, Al Doyle whirring his synthesizer, and Murphy shouting into his microphone, wrapped around his arm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
A melodica is a handheld instrument played by blowing air into a reed, which is attached to a keyboard.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
“So,” Eddie says, fingers poised on the keyboard of her laptop.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Hall effect sensors are now widely used in technologies ranging from cars to computer keyboards.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
The duo studied dusty LPs from Mexico and Colombia and employed a panoply of vintage keyboards to re-create the ghostly sounds of a Latin America that ceased to exist decades ago.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
The group is in fact led by singer and guitarist Tara Clerkin, and she’s joined by two others—Sunny Joe Paradisos on drums and Patrick Benjamin on keyboards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
I pivoted my team of social-media writers, asking them to trade their keyboards for headsets while holding on to their signature eloquence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
The click, click, click of their fingers running across the ten-by-ten gray manual keyboards of their calculators resonated throughout the room.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
And by scrambled, I mean they waited ten months to replace the touchscreen with the keyboarded Q10.
From Forbes ● Nov. 7, 2013
Besides, I use the very tedious process of keyboarded voice modulation when I speak Utmano.
From Nature ● Feb. 1, 2012
Teaching of cursive writing returns after falling to the wayside amid revised learning standards and emphasis on keyboarding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2024
The program teaches eight different courses, including basic keyboarding skills, Microsoft Office, iPhone with VoiceOver/Siri, and refreshable braille displays.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2022
Those of us who took typing rather than keyboarding have had to unlearn a habit deeply entrenched.
From Fox News ● Apr. 30, 2020
But church elders reined in Antes when he tried to add keyboarding instruments, called claviers, to his product line, according to a passage in the 1762 minutes of “Bethlehem Elder Conference” that Shatto cited.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 3, 2018
James knew from keyboarding class that the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” used every letter in the alphabet, so they made that their cipher key.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
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.
