locket
Americannoun
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lockets
plural
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a small case for a miniature portrait, a lock of hair, or other keepsake, usually worn on a necklace.
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the uppermost mount of a scabbard.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of locket
1325–75; Middle English lokat cross-bar in a framework < Anglo-French loquet, diminutive of loc latch < Middle English. See lock 1, -et
Explanation
A locket is a small piece of jewelry that's worn on a necklace and opens to reveal a small photograph or memento inside. Your grandmother's silver locket might not be worth a lot of money, but it probably has a lot of sentimental value to you. Lockets are usually round, oval, or heart-shaped, snapping open and closed and containing a picture of a loved one or a favorite pet, or — in the old days — a lock of someone's hair. These little cases aren't named for hair locks, though, but instead get their name from the Old French loquet, "door-handle" or "latch," for the way their covers move on a hinge and close securely, like a door.
Vocabulary lists containing locket
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:
This comes about a week after police arrested the 32-year-old man at Patridge Jewellers in central Auckland, minutes after he allegedly ate the locket.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2025
Between chatting nervously with my daughter and navigating the roads, it occurred to me that I’d forgotten my grandmother’s brass heart-shaped locket.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2025
I'm mostly watching for gay reasons, because the writing is good, and because I wear a locket around my neck with a photo of Kathryn Hahn inside of it.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2024
That locket is presented at the Champions Dinner during Masters week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
He handed the locket back to Ron and Hermione, each of whom did their best, but were no more successful at opening it than he had been.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
"Jewellery and lockets, people tend to know there's generally value in it. But when it comes to trading cards and collectables, people tend to overlook them."
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026
“The way Nick forges his metals is special,” said Kevin Napoli, who purchased two of Berkofsky’s kitchen knives and a pair of cremation lockets for him and his son to carry his father’s ashes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2025
They were memorialized in art and photography; their hair became keepsakes tucked in lockets and pins.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 18, 2022
If anything, Haupt puts perhaps too much stock into talismans — dreamcatchers, lockets, photographs — even a farm.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 1, 2018
In the America of the 1790s, Washington’s image was everywhere, in paintings, prints, lockets; on coins, silverware, plates, and household bric-a-brac.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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