Pronunciations (2)
-
/kiː/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/ki/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
Noun
An object designed to open and close a lock or to activate or deactivate something, especially a length of metal inserted into a narrow opening on the lock to which it is matched (keyed).
Usage- Countable
- Examples
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I cannot find my key.
This key is to the backdoor.
insert the key into the lock (formal); put the key in the lock (informal)
More examples (2)
apartment key; room key; spare key
We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.
An object designed to open and close a lock or to activate or deactivate something, especially a length of metal inserted into a narrow opening on the lock to which it is matched (keyed). A card or fob that electronically signals a lock to open.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
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My hotel room key is a card.
The gym will give you a fob that opens the door.
An object designed to open and close a lock or to activate or deactivate something, especially a length of metal inserted into a narrow opening on the lock to which it is matched (keyed). A piece of information (e.g., a password or passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
Usage- Countable
- Figurative
An object designed to open and close a lock or to activate or deactivate something, especially a length of metal inserted into a narrow opening on the lock to which it is matched (keyed). A password restricting access to an IRC channel.
Usage- Internet
- Countable
- Examples
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if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key.
An object designed to open and close a lock or to activate or deactivate something, especially a length of metal inserted into a narrow opening on the lock to which it is matched (keyed). A key bump (A portion of a recreational drug in powdered form that is snorted from a key or similar small object.)
Usage- Countable
- Slang
- Examples
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I saw him snort a key at the party.
An object designed to open and close a lock or to activate or deactivate something, especially a length of metal inserted into a narrow opening on the lock to which it is matched (keyed). Any of various tools comparable to a wrench (spanner) or driver, which have a specialized end that matches a fixture, analogously to a lock's key.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
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The exterminator will bring a key thingy that can open the bait boxes.
Safe-deposit boxes open with a special key.
An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation. A cotter pin.
An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation. A piece of wood used as a wedge.
An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation. The last board of a floor when laid down.
An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation. A keystone.
An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation. That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and that holds the rest in place.
An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation. A wooden wedge, driven sideways between a bullhead rail and a cast-iron chair, to keep the rail securely in position.
A crucial step or requirement.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
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Practice is the key to improvement.
Persistence is the key to solving this problem.
The key to winning that game is your strategy at the beginning.
More examples (4)
Those who are accustomed to reason have got the true key of books.
who keeps the keys of all the creeds
The PEOPLE'S DAILY today front pages a news item in column one in the experience of Yuhsi County in Yunnan which "mastered the law of agricultural field management, and found the key to increasing autumn grain production."
Imagination is the key to creation. Whatever you can imagine becomes reality or is reality. That's the way it works.
A crucial step or requirement. An idea, theory or observation that explains, justifies or renders (something) comprehensible.
Usage- broadly
- Figurative
- Examples
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The key to his proposal is that he thinks this company is dying and needs radical change.
A crucial step or requirement. A deciding factor.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
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Her charm is the key to her success.
Senses relating to a guide that identifies information. A small guide explaining symbols, abbreviations or terminology, especially the legend on a map or chart.
- Examples
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map key
The key says that A stands for the accounting department.
Senses relating to a guide that identifies information. A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Some students cheated by using the key.
Senses relating to a guide that identifies information. A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon; a taxonomic key.
Senses relating to a guide that identifies information. A value that uniquely identifies an entry in a container.
Senses relating to a guide that identifies information. In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
Senses relating to a set of features that modify the output of a device. One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
- Examples
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Press any key to continue.
Press the Escape key.
A key; B key, etc.
Senses relating to a set of features that modify the output of a device. In musical instruments, one of the valve levers used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
- Examples
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piano key
Senses relating to a set of features that modify the output of a device. In instruments with a keyboard such as an organ or piano, one of the levers, or especially the exposed front end of it, which are depressed to cause a particular sound or note to be produced.
A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.
- Examples
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the key of B-flat major
More examples (1)
A girl, it is true, has always lived in a glass house among reproving relatives, whose word was law; she has been bred up to sacrifice her judgments and take the key submissively from dear papa; and it is wonderful how swiftly she can change her tune into the husband's.
A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition. The lowest note of a scale; keynote.
A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition. In musical theory, the total melodic and harmonic relations, which exist between the tones of an ideal scale, major or minor; tonality.
A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition. In musical theory and notation, the tonality centering in a given tone, or the several tones taken collectively, of a given scale, major or minor.
A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition. In musical notation, a sign at the head of a staff indicating the musical key.
A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition. The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
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More examples (1)
2. Queen.[…]Deere Glasse of Ladies Bid him that we whom flaming war doth scortch, Vnder the shaddow of his Sword, may coole us: Require him he advance it ore our heades; Speak't in a womans key: like such a woman As any of us three; weepe ere you faile; lend us a knee; But touch the ground for us no longer time Then a Doves motion, when the head's pluckt off: Tell him if he i'th blood cizd field, lay swolne Showing the Sun his Teeth; grinning at the Moone What you would doe.
?, William Cowper, Conversation You fall at once into a lower key.
More examples (1)
Another popular way to key ads and mailings is to use a suite number, room number, department number, desk number, etc. as part of the ordering address. With a classified ad, using such a key may increase your ad cost.
A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition. The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance. A modification of an advertisement so as to target a particular group or demographic.
Usage- broadly
- Figurative
Senses of items with visual similarity to a key or group of keys on a keyring. An item of decor shaped like a key.
Senses of items with visual similarity to a key or group of keys on a keyring. An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
- Synonyms
Senses of items with visual similarity to a key or group of keys on a keyring. The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.
- Examples
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He shoots from the top of the key.
Senses of items with visual similarity to a key or group of keys on a keyring. The thirty-third card of the Lenormand deck, which features an image of a key.
Senses related to colors. The overall color tone of a painting or other visual art, with a high key indicating generally light colors and a low key indicating generally dark colors.
Senses related to colors. The black ink layer, especially in relation to the three color layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. See also CMYK.
Senses related to colors. A color to be masked or made transparent.
- Examples
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You can easily create this type of user interface by creating a bitmap with certain portions set to a predefined color you want to use as the transparency key.
More examples (1)
There are key controls that adjust the “slice level” or the level at which the key kicks-in and starts cutting a hole for the “fill” […] Chroma key is another form of keying, which derives the key cutter or hole from a selected color.
A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
Usage- Historical
The degree of roughness, or the ability of a surface to retain an applied liquid, such as paint or glue.
- Examples
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The door panel should be sanded down carefully to provide a good key for the new paint.
Adjective
Indispensable, supremely important.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
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He is the key player on his soccer team.
More examples (1)
Paradoxically enough, however, in general only the parties of the Left have done most to spread the belief that it was the numerical strength of the opposing material interests which decided political issues, whereas in practice these same parties have regularly and successfully acted as if they understood the key position of the intellectuals.
Lukas intimates that one of Disney's key attractions was "Main Street USA,” which "mimicked a downtown business district just as Southdale" had done.
More examples (2)
The question of the plausibility of the counter-factual is seen as key in all three discussions of allohistorical fiction (as it is in Demandt's and Ferguson's examinations of allohistory) (cf. Rodiek 25–26; Ritter 15–16; Helbig 32).
The enemy is moving troops through a key area. Distrupt their activities to open some holes in their defenses.
Important, salient.
Usage- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
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She makes several key points.
More examples (2)
Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point. The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.
With the north London derby to come at the weekend, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp opted to rest many of his key players, although he brought back Aaron Lennon after a month out through injury.
Verb
To fit (a lock) with a key.
To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
- Examples
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So I worked on a tissue-paper copy of the perimeter plan, outlining groupings of plants of the same species and keying them with letters for the species.
More examples (3)
The volume closes with thirty pages of "Notes, critical and explanatory," in which Thomson provides seventy-six longer or shorter notes keyed to specific sections of the synopsis.
Talk about similarities between the words and write them below to the left of the anchor, keying them with a plus sign (+). Talk about the characteristics that set the words apart and list them below the box to the right, keying them with a tilde sign (~).
2007, Stephen Blake Mettee, Michelle Doland, and Doris Hall, compilers, The American Directory of Writer's Guidelines, 6th ("2007–2008") edition, →ISBN, page 757, Indicate the comparative value of each heading by keying it with a number in pencil, in the left margin, as follows: […]
To depress (a telegraph key).
To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
(more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.
- Examples
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Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.
To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.
To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
- Examples
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More examples (1)
The American Heart Association has prepared their own guide to classification and, keying it with the Standard Nomenclature of Diseases, have done much to encourage a concise yet complete diagnosis.
The workman's compensation system rests on incentives (premium payments) that are keyed to the immediate and relatively undeniable nature of injuries; […]
It also features special issues on "Live Longer, Better, Wiser," men's health, women's health, and issues keyed to important "disease weeks."
To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
Usage- Intransitive
To modify (an advertisement) so as to target a particular group or demographic.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (2)
Keying advertisements and counting the number of inquiries received or the number of coupons returned to indicate the "pulling power" of a particular piece of copy or the coverage of a particular advertising medium.
Another popular way to key ads and mailings is to use a suite number, room number, department number, desk number, etc. as part of the ordering address. With a classified ad, using such a key may increase your ad cost. Why? Because you're using an extra word or two to key the ad.
To attune to; to set at; to pitch.
- Examples
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To Ethel alone she addressed a stray remark, keyed below the sound of other voices.
To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.
- Examples
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they Mouldered and keyed the Portico Arches with Pieces of Stone, because Brick was not strong enough
To prepare for plastering by adding the key (that part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place).
To provide an arch with a keystone.
- Examples
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The last arch in the permanant ^([sic]) bridge was keyed on March 26, 1850, and a single track was brought into use for goods trains on July 20.
Noun
One of a string of small islands.
- Examples
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the Florida Keys
Noun
A kilogram, especially of a recreational drug.
Usage- Slang
- Synonyms
- Examples
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More examples (1)
So starting with ten keys of cocaine and two keys of heroin, Derrick put his plan in motion. Soon every major drug dealer and gang chief from Chicago Avenue to Evanston was in his pocket.
Noun
A key position player (a tall forward or defender).
- Examples
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"It just means that one of them here and there will need to play on a small-to-medium forward (instead of Riewoldt) which is fine. Our keys are pretty agile."
Adjective
serving as an essential component
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a cardinal rule
the central cause of the problem
More examples (2)
an example that was fundamental to the argument
computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure
Noun
metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock's mechanism can be rotated
- Broader terms
something crucial for explaining
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the key to development is economic integration
pitch of the voice
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he spoke in a low key
any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a kilogram of a narcotic drug
- Examples
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they were carrying two keys of heroin
a winged often one-seed indehiscent fruit as of the ash or elm or maple
- Broader terms
a coral reef off the southern coast of Florida
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
(basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he hit a jump shot from the top of the key
he dominates play in the paint
a list of answers to a test
- Examples
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some students had stolen the key to the final exam
a list of words or phrases that explain symbols or abbreviations
a generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access
- Broader terms
- Examples
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a safe-deposit box usually requires two keys to open it
mechanical device used to wind another device that is driven by a spring (as a clock)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the central building block at the top of an arch or vault
- Broader terms
a lever (as in a keyboard) that actuates a mechanism when depressed
- Broader terms
Verb
identify as in botany or biology, for example
provide with a key
- Examples
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We were keyed after the locks were changed in the building
vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key
- Examples
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His new Mercedes was keyed last night in the parking lot
regulate the musical pitch of
harmonize with or adjust to
- Examples
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key one's actions to the voters' prevailing attitude