key

Noun

key (plural keys)

1. An object designed to open and close a lock.
2. An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain the orientation between them.
3. A crucial step or requirement.

   the key to solving this problem...

   the key to winning this game

4. One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, most of which generally correspond to a particular letter of the alphabet, numeral, or special symbol.

   Press the Escape key.

5. One of a number of rectangular moving parts on a piano or musical keyboard, each causing a particular sound or note to be produced.
6. A hierarchical scale of musical notes on which a composition is based

   The key of B-flat major

7. A device used to transmit Morse code.
8. (cryptography) A piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
9. (computing): In a database, a field of a relation constrained to be unique.
10. (computing): In a database, a field in a record that is used as a search argument (but is not necessarily unique).
11. (computing): A value that uniquely identifies an entry in an associative array.
12. (basketball): The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the freethrow line, the freethrow lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.

    He shoots from the top of the key.

13. (also cay) One of a string of small islands.

    "the Florida Keys"

14. A small guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a document.

    The key says that A stands for the accounting department.

3 letters in word "key": E K Y.

Anagrams of key:

• kye

Words found within key:

ky ye

Word lists related to key:

Words within key, by length
Words starting with key
Words containing key
Words ending with key
Words formed from key by changing one letter
Words starting with key by next letter
Words that start with the letter k
Words that end in the letter y

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