Library / English Dictionary

CIPHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A message written in a secret code

Synonyms:

cipher; cypher

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cipher" is a kind of...):

message (a communication (usually brief) that is written or spoken or signaled)

Derivation:

cipher (convert ordinary language into code)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A secret method of writing

Synonyms:

cipher; cryptograph; cypher; secret code

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cipher" is a kind of...):

code (a coding system used for transmitting messages requiring brevity or secrecy)

Derivation:

cipher (convert ordinary language into code)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person of no influence

Synonyms:

cipher; cypher; nobody; nonentity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("cipher" is a kind of...):

common man; common person; commoner (a person who holds no title)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cipher"):

pip-squeak; small fry; squirt (someone who is small and insignificant)

jackanapes; lightweight; whippersnapper (someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A quantity of no importance

Example:

I didn't hear zilch about it

Synonyms:

aught; cipher; cypher; goose egg; nada; naught; nil; nix; nothing; null; zero; zilch; zip; zippo

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("cipher" is a kind of...):

relative quantity (a quantity relative to some purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cipher"):

nihil ((Latin) nil; nothing (as used by a sheriff after an unsuccessful effort to serve a writ))

bugger all; Fanny Adams; fuck all; sweet Fanny Adams (little or nothing at all)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A mathematical element that when added to another number yields the same number

Synonyms:

0; cipher; cypher; nought; zero

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("cipher" is a kind of...):

digit; figure (one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration)

Derivation:

cipher (make a mathematical calculation or computation)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a mathematical calculation or computation

Synonyms:

calculate; cipher; compute; cypher; figure; reckon; work out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "cipher" is one way to...):

reason (think logically)

Verb group:

work out (be calculated)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cipher"):

resolve; solve (find the solution)

capitalise; capitalize (compute the present value of a business or an income)

budget (make a budget)

approximate; estimate; gauge; guess; judge (judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or time))

survey (plot a map of (land))

integrate (calculate the integral of; calculate by integration)

differentiate (calculate a derivative; take the derivative)

extrapolate; interpolate (estimate the value of)

divide; fraction (perform a division)

multiply (combine by multiplication)

deduct; subtract; take off (make a subtraction)

add; add together (make an addition by combining numbers)

factor; factor in; factor out (resolve into factors)

average; average out (compute the average of)

recalculate (calculate anew)

miscalculate; misestimate (calculate incorrectly)

prorate (divide or assess proportionally)

process (perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information)

extract (calculate the root of a number)

quantise; quantize (apply quantum theory to; restrict the number of possible values of (a quantity) or states of (a physical entity or system) so that certain variables can assume only certain discrete magnitudes that are integral multiples of a common factor)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

cipher (a mathematical element that when added to another number yields the same number)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Convert ordinary language into code

Example:

We should encode the message for security reasons

Synonyms:

cipher; code; cypher; encipher; encrypt; inscribe; write in code

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "cipher" is one way to...):

encode (convert information into code)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

cipher (a message written in a secret code)

cipher (a secret method of writing)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Knitting, sewing, reading, writing, ciphering, will be all you will have to teach.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“I have here in front of me these singular productions, at which one might smile, had they not proved themselves to be the forerunners of so terrible a tragedy. I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate ciphers, but I confess that this is entirely new to me. The object of those who invented the system has apparently been to conceal that these characters convey a message, and to give the idea that they are the mere random sketches of children.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A cipher message, Holmes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)