Cipher
noun
A secret or disguised way to write a code or a message.
The spy used a cipher to send sensitive information back to her agency.
Often appears as...
- secret cipher
- complex cipher
Usage tips
Technical
noun
A person who has no power and is used by others.
He felt like a cipher in his own home, with no say in any decisions.
Often appears as...
- feel like a cipher
- treated as a cipher
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A zero; a digit in the decimal system, used to hold place value.
In the number 108, the '0' is a cipher.
Often appears as...
- zero cipher
- place cipher
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The action or process of performing arithmetic computations.
The student's cipher was incorrect, leading to an error in the solution.
Often appears as...
- incorrect cipher
- arithmetic cipher
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To put something into secret or disguised form.
You need to cipher your messages to prevent unauthorized access.
Often appears as...
- cipher messages
- cipher data
Usage tips
Technical
noun
A secret or disguised way to write a code or a message.
The spy used a cipher to send sensitive information back to her agency.
Often appears as...
- secret cipher
- complex cipher
Usage tips
Technical
noun
A person who has no power and is used by others.
He felt like a cipher in his own home, with no say in any decisions.
Often appears as...
- feel like a cipher
- treated as a cipher
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A zero; a digit in the decimal system, used to hold place value.
In the number 108, the '0' is a cipher.
Often appears as...
- zero cipher
- place cipher
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The action or process of performing arithmetic computations.
The student's cipher was incorrect, leading to an error in the solution.
Often appears as...
- incorrect cipher
- arithmetic cipher
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To put something into secret or disguised form.
You need to cipher your messages to prevent unauthorized access.
Often appears as...
- cipher messages
- cipher data
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 5
Pro Tip 1/3Cryptography Basics
Understand that 'cipher' in this context relates to keeping information secret through encoding.
Cryptographers create ciphers to protect data.
Pro Tip 2/3Historical Encryption
'Cipher' also references historical methods of secret writing used before the digital age.
The ancient spy network wrote in ciphers.
Pro Tip 3/3Breaking Codes
In stories and history, 'breaking a cipher' refers to decoding someone else's secret messages.
The detectives set out to break the enemy's cipher.
Pro Tip 1/3Cryptography Basics
Understand that 'cipher' in this context relates to keeping information secret through encoding.
Cryptographers create ciphers to protect data.
Pro Tip 2/3Historical Encryption
'Cipher' also references historical methods of secret writing used before the digital age.
The ancient spy network wrote in ciphers.
Pro Tip 3/3Breaking Codes
In stories and history, 'breaking a cipher' refers to decoding someone else's secret messages.
The detectives set out to break the enemy's cipher.
Pro Tip 1/3Cryptography Basics
Understand that 'cipher' in this context relates to keeping information secret through encoding.
Cryptographers create ciphers to protect data.
Pro Tip 2/3Historical Encryption
'Cipher' also references historical methods of secret writing used before the digital age.
The ancient spy network wrote in ciphers.
Pro Tip 3/3Breaking Codes
In stories and history, 'breaking a cipher' refers to decoding someone else's secret messages.
The detectives set out to break the enemy's cipher.
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Video examples
The world’s most...
with scroll-like embellishments. It appears to be written by two or more hands, with the painting done by yet another party. Over the years, three main theories about the manuscript's text have emerged. The first is that it's written in cypher, a secret code deliberately designed to hide secret meaning.
Video examples
How Hip Hop taught my...
every semester that I teach pre-service and in-service educators on topics ranging from diversity to racial justice to literacy acquisition in urban schools I make sure to include a unit on the art of the cipher but those who don't know
Video examples
Echolocation PIPE Brain...
sense of sound for years scientists thought if you went blind your visual cortex went dark but it actually gets a new job helping to cipher input from your other senses research suggests that daniel has
Video examples
The world’s most...
with scroll-like embellishments. It appears to be written by two or more hands, with the painting done by yet another party. Over the years, three main theories about the manuscript's text have emerged. The first is that it's written in cypher, a secret code deliberately designed to hide secret meaning.
Video examples
How Hip Hop taught my...
every semester that I teach pre-service and in-service educators on topics ranging from diversity to racial justice to literacy acquisition in urban schools I make sure to include a unit on the art of the cipher but those who don't know
Video examples
Echolocation PIPE Brain...
sense of sound for years scientists thought if you went blind your visual cortex went dark but it actually gets a new job helping to cipher input from your other senses research suggests that daniel has
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Jill Scott
American Musician
I was backstage at the House of Blues in L.A where I was about to perform, and Stevie Wonder and Prince turned up at my dressing room together! Stevie started beat boxing and Prince started singing one of my songs, all of a sudden it was like I was in a cypher with these incredible artists.
Quote examples
Abraham Lincoln
American President
My father... removed from Kentucky to... Indiana, in my eighth year... It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up... Of course when I came of age, I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher... but that was all.
Quote examples
Queen Latifah
American Musician
I've never been the straight rapper that is going to stand in a cipher and battle all day. I started off battle rapping, but to me, making songs became more important than freestyles... I've met many rappers who can freestyle but can't make a record.
Quote examples
Steven Pinker
Canadian Scientist
An enormous amount of scientific language is metaphorical. We talk about a genetic code, where code originally meant a cipher; we talk about the solar system model of the atom as though the atom were like a sun and moon and planets.
Quote examples
William Godwin
English Writer
It is necessary for him who would endure existence with patience that he should conceive himself to be something - that he should be persuaded he is not a cipher in the muster-roll of man.
Quote examples
Bernard Baruch
American Businessman
Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can't retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy and time.
Quote examples
Dan Brown
American Author
I'm somebody who likes codes and ciphers and chases and artwork and architecture, and all the things you find in a Robert Langdon thriller.
Quote examples
Usher
American Musician
When I was a kid, we got in a cipher and battled each other lyrically. We told jokes and made the hottest dance moves.
Quote examples
Nicolas Roeg
English Director
I like women in film. I like women in general, but I especially like to show them on film. They are not ciphers.
Quote examples
Tony Todd
American Actor
Most actors do that. They fill in the blanks. You don't want to play a cipher.
Quote examples
Jill Scott
American Musician
I was backstage at the House of Blues in L.A where I was about to perform, and Stevie Wonder and Prince turned up at my dressing room together! Stevie started beat boxing and Prince started singing one of my songs, all of a sudden it was like I was in a cypher with these incredible artists.
Quote examples
Abraham Lincoln
American President
My father... removed from Kentucky to... Indiana, in my eighth year... It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up... Of course when I came of age, I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher... but that was all.
Quote examples
Queen Latifah
American Musician
I've never been the straight rapper that is going to stand in a cipher and battle all day. I started off battle rapping, but to me, making songs became more important than freestyles... I've met many rappers who can freestyle but can't make a record.
Quote examples
Steven Pinker
Canadian Scientist
An enormous amount of scientific language is metaphorical. We talk about a genetic code, where code originally meant a cipher; we talk about the solar system model of the atom as though the atom were like a sun and moon and planets.
Quote examples
William Godwin
English Writer
It is necessary for him who would endure existence with patience that he should conceive himself to be something - that he should be persuaded he is not a cipher in the muster-roll of man.
Quote examples
Bernard Baruch
American Businessman
Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can't retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy and time.
Quote examples
Dan Brown
American Author
I'm somebody who likes codes and ciphers and chases and artwork and architecture, and all the things you find in a Robert Langdon thriller.
Quote examples
Usher
American Musician
When I was a kid, we got in a cipher and battled each other lyrically. We told jokes and made the hottest dance moves.
Quote examples
Nicolas Roeg
English Director
I like women in film. I like women in general, but I especially like to show them on film. They are not ciphers.
Quote examples
Tony Todd
American Actor
Most actors do that. They fill in the blanks. You don't want to play a cipher.
Example 1 of 10
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