public key
noun
a message encryption key available to anyone, allowing the resulting encrypted messages to be decrypted only when paired with a private key known only to the message recipient.
public keys
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pluralof public key.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
Up to 6.9 million Bitcoin are vulnerable as their public keys are already exposed, allowing quantum systems to crack them anytime.
From Barron's ● Apr. 1, 2026
But since then, mathematicians have developed methods for encryption using public keys.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 12, 2023
It would be mathematically very viable that only the citizens receive and that they did receive because I have the public keys of pretty much everyone in the country.
From The Verge ● May 24, 2022
Another improvement to McEliece’s system, due to Niederreiter17, is to compress public keys to ‘systematic form’.
From Nature ● Sep. 12, 2017
Spammers hadn't figured out that using public keys would make their junk mail more plausible yet, so for now this worked well.
From Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
