login
Americannoun
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the act of logging in to a database, mobile device, or computer, especially a multiuser computer or a remote or networked computer system.
The program records the time of each login.
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a username and password that allows a person to log in to a computer system, network, mobile device, or user account.
I’ve forgotten my login again!
verb (used without object)
Usage
Many who are neither professionals in the computer field nor amateur tech enthusiasts condemn the use of the solid form login as a verb, and with good reason. It doesn’t behave like a normal verb. You cannot say you have loginned, and you are never in the process of loginning. Moreover, you cannot even ask someone to login you; you must ask that person to log you in. Clearly, it is the two-word phrase log in that functions fully as an English verb, not the solid form. Normally, we would expect the verb phrase log in and the noun login to behave in the same way as similar pairs: blow out/blowout, crack down/crackdown, hang up/hangup, splash down/splashdown, turn off/turnoff, where the two-word phrase is a verb and the one-word form is a noun. And yet, this gluing together of terms like login, logon, backup, and setup as verbs is common, especially in writing about computers. Not for everyone, though; some well-known software companies, for example, carefully maintain the distinction in their programs and documentation. The wisest course is to find out what the standard is among those for whom you’re writing, and follow it.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of login
First recorded in 1965–70
Compare meaning
How does login compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
One Login, is a single account for accessing public services online, which the government says more than 12 million people have already signed up to.
From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026
By this time next year that might be as many as 20 million, as people registering as company directors will have to verify their identity through One Login from 18 November.
From BBC • Oct. 31, 2025
The department says all members of the team working on One Login use "corporately managed" devices which are monitored by a security team to detect any malicious activity.
From BBC • Oct. 31, 2025
One Login is a single account for accessing public services online, which the government says more than 12 million people have already signed up to.
From BBC • Oct. 31, 2025
Three of the four ruffians had been wounded by the minister's attendants before they could secure his person, and their wounds were now dressed by Doctor Login.
From A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II by Sleeman, William
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.
