Meaning & use
ciphers
Last updated
Secret or disguised methods of writing used to protect the meaning of a message, or the numerical symbol zero.
See it in a sentence
Wartime spies relied on complex ciphers to send messages that enemies could not read.
In early mathematics, the introduction of ciphers like zero transformed the way numbers were recorded.
A note on using this word
"Cipher" can also describe a person of no importance or influence, as in "he was dismissed as a mere cipher in the negotiations."
Words with a similar meaning
codescryptograms
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. noun
A person or thing of no importance; a nonentity.
Critics dismissed the puppet leader as a mere cipher controlled by others.
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