bar code

British  

noun

1. Also called: Universal Product Code.   UPC.  commerce a machine-readable arrangement of numbers and parallel lines of different widths printed on a package, which can be electronically scanned at a checkout to register the price of the goods and to activate computer stock-checking and reordering

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bar code Cultural  

1. A series of parallel lines that can be read by an optical scanner and decoded by a computer into usable information. The ten-line Universal Product Code (UPC) on the packaging of retail items is an example of this. The key to this code is the variation in line thickness and separation.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bar code

Instead of being laid out spatially, its wiring works more like a bar code, with distributed patterns of activity representing particular smells or complex memories.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

The Montreal resident uses an app called Nuj that has him scan the bar code on a shampoo bottle in his bathroom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

For ticket inspections and to pass through barriers, the app will generate a bar code to scan.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2025

No more scrolling through your phone to find that bar code, or scrambling through your glove compartment to find that parking pass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2025

Supermarkets in Denmark have experimented with adding a second bar code to packages of meat.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan