Definitions for Key

• Definition
• Anagrams (10)

Key key

Spelling: [kee]

IPA: /ki/

Key is a 3 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 10 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 9 points.

You can make 10 anagrams from letters in Key (eky).

Definitions for Key

noun

1. a small metal instrument specially cut to fit into a lock and move its bolt.
2. any of various devices resembling or functioning as a key:
3. key card.
4. something that affords a means of access:
5. something that secures or controls entrance to a place:
6. something that affords a means of clarifying a problem.
7. a book, pamphlet, or other text containing the solutions or translations of material given elsewhere, as testing exercises.
8. a systematic explanation of abbreviations, symbols, etc., used in a dictionary, map, etc.: Compare legend (def 4).
9. the system, method, pattern, etc., used to decode or decipher a cryptogram, as a code book, machine setting, or keyword.
10. one of a set of marked parts, designated areas, or levers pressed in operating a typewriter, computer terminal, calculator, etc.
11. a manually operated lever for opening and closing an electric circuit, used to produce signals in telegraphy.
12. Music. (in a keyboard instrument) one of the levers that when depressed by the performer sets in motion the playing mechanism. (on a woodwind instrument) a metal lever that opens and closes a vent. the relationship perceived between all tones in a given unit of music and a single tone or a keynote; tonality. the principal tonality of a composition: the keynote or tonic of a scale.
13. tone or pitch, as of voice:
14. mood or characteristic style, as of expression or thought:
15. degree of intensity, as of feeling or action.
16. a pin, bolt, wedge, or other piece inserted in a hole or space to lock or hold parts of a mechanism or structure together; a cotter.
17. a small piece of steel fitting into matching slots of a hub of a wheel or the like and the shaft on which the wheel is mounted so that torque is transmitted from one to the other.
18. a contrivance for grasping and turning a bolt, nut, etc.
19. Computers. a field or group of characters within a record that identifies the record, establishing its position among sorted records, and/or provides information about its contents.
20. (in a series of advertisements or announcements soliciting replies) a unique code inserted for each medium used, to determine the relative effectiveness of the media.
21. Electricity. a device for opening and closing electrical contacts. a hand-operated switching device ordinarily formed of concealed spring contacts with an exposed handle or push button, capable of switching one or more parts of a circuit.
22. Biology. a systematic tabular classification of the significant characteristics of the members of a group of organisms to facilitate identification and comparison.
23. Masonry. a keystone.
24. Architecture. (in a ribbed vault) a stone, as a boss, at the intersection of two or more ribs.
25. Masonry, Carpentry. a wedge, as for tightening a joint or splitting a stone or timber.
26. Carpentry. a small piece of wood set into a timber across the grain to prevent warping.
27. Building Trades. any grooving or roughness applied to a surface to improve its bond with another surface.
28. Basketball. keyhole (def 2).
29. Photography. the dominant tonal value of a picture, a high-key picture having light tonal values and minimal contrast and a low-key picture being generally dark with minimal contrast.
30. Painting. the tonal value and intensity of a color or range of colors:
31. Botany. a samara.
32. (initial capital letter) a member of the House of Keys.
33. keys, spiritual authority.
34. a reef or low island; cay.
35. a kilogram of marijuana or a narcotic drug.
36. Francis Scott, 1780–1843, U.S. lawyer: author of The Star-Spangled Banner.

Idioms

1. power of the keys, the authority of a pope in ecclesiastical matters, vested in him as successor of St. Peter.

adjective

1. chief; major; important; essential; fundamental; pivotal:

Verb phrases

1. key in, Computers. keyboard (def 4).
2. key on, Football. to watch the position and movements of an opponent in order to anticipate a play: Also, key in on. to single out as of prime importance or interest; be intent on or obsessed with:
3. key up, to bring to a particular degree of intensity of feeling, excitement, energy, nervousness, agitation, etc.: to raise (a piece of masonry) by the insertion of a wedge or wedges. to raise (the haunches of an arch) by the insertion of a voussoir.

verb (used with object)

1. to regulate or adjust (actions, thoughts, speech, etc.) to a particular state or activity; bring into conformity:
2. Music. to regulate the key or pitch of.
3. Painting. to paint (a picture) in a given key. to adjust the colors in (a painting) to a particular hue:
4. to fasten, secure, or adjust with a key, wedge, or the like, as parts of a mechanism.
5. to provide with a key.
6. (in the layout of newspapers, magazines, etc.) to identify, through signs or symbols, the positions of illustrations or pieces of copy in a dummy.
7. to lock with or as if with a key.
8. Masonry. to provide (an arch or vault) with a keystone.
9. Computers. keyboard (def 4).

verb (used without object)

1. to use a key.
2. Computers. keyboard (def 4).

Origin of Key

before 900; Middle English key(e), kay(e), Old English cǣg, cǣge; cognate with Old Frisian kei, kai

Examples for Key

The second lesson is that no one writing before the twentieth century holds a key to our problems.

I don't think it will, mind, but it's best to be prepared, so give me the key.

Andrew Lanning slipped to the door and turned the key in the lock.

Now of course this song can be performed in any key, but it sounds best in Eminor and in my experience is often sung there.

Only Ambrose was, at parting for the night, obliged to ask him for the key of the gate.

The opposition responded with a month-long Occupy Abay (like Occupy Wall St) campaign, in which Udaltsov was one of key figures.

When he rejoined her in the middle of the room he gave her the key.

By contrast, Solomon can tell us a great deal about what really changed the country—because at key moments, he was there.

Getting men to do their share of care and domestic work is a key overlooked strategy in reducing poverty.

He not only closed it, but locked it, having secretly hidden the key in his pocket.