codeword
/ˈkoʊdˌwɝd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.28 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A string representing an encoded piece of text.
noun
A word or phrase (or by extension a concept) used to make a (concealed) reference to another word or concept.
noun
A type of crossword puzzle where the letters of the alphabet are represented by numbers and the solver must identify them by their position and frequency.
Example Sentences
- "Bob cannot get any information out of the codeword since he doesn't know what transmission bases Alice used."
- "While all the cats are frolicking and singing, the aging Grizabella cat, noted once for her glamour, keeps wandering onstage and singing bits of "Memory." The other cats shun her as a pariah, an outcast. Dressed in rags, looking pathetic, it's clear that her only sin was once being "glamorous," which I think is a code word for sexual."
- "Even the most virtuous concepts were scrutinised by governments eager to interpret them as codewords for something unwelcome."
- "El Niño has hit the headlines as a codeword for bad weather, especially in the Pacific and California. But there is a little more to it than that."
- "The Catholic Church has had problems in the past with fluid notions of gender, most particularly at the United Nations where some groups have used gender as a codeword for reproductive health rights which are deemed to include abortion."
Etymology
From code + word.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkoʊdˌwɝd/