keyboard
Americannoun
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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.
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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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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.
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to set (text) in type, using a machine that is operated by a keyboard.
noun
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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
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has keyboardedperfect 3rd person singular
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have keyboardedperfect
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are keyboardingprogressive
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am keyboardingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been keyboardingperfect progressive
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has been keyboardingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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keyboardingparticiple
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is keyboardingprogressive 3rd person singular
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keyboardssingular 3rd person
Past
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had keyboardedperfect
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was keyboardingprogressive singular
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were keyboardingprogressive plural
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keyboardedsimple
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had been keyboardingperfect progressive
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keyboardedparticiple
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.
The singer also made good use out of her space bedrooms, with one utilized as a music room, complete with a funky patterned couch, a keyboard, and a drum kit.
From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026
He also spent more than £1,800 at John Lewis on an iPad Pro and Apple magic keyboard in September 2020.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
Within the fair’s 200 buildings, they were dazzled by inventions including an enormous Corliss steam engine, the first typing machine featuring a qwerty keyboard and a working model of a steamship.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
In the ’80s Palm Common Room, a vintage keyboard, a computer mouse and touch-tone phone hang on the walls.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
The King’s leitmotif, for example, might be 4 quarter notes played on a trumpet sound on a keyboard, or using an interval of a 5th on any instrument to sound regal and stately.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
