key
Forms
- Plural
- keys
- Comparative
- keyer
- Superlative
- keyest
- present (v1)
- key
- past (v2)
- keyed
- past participle (v3)
- keyed
- present participle
- keying
- 3rd person singular
- keys
Definitions
1.An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
- Tom put the key into his pocket.
- I lost my key somewhere around here.
- The key is on the desk.
2.A crucial step or requirement.
- Her charm is the key to her success.
- Persistence is the key to solving this problem.
- The key to winning that game is your strategy at the beginning.
3.Senses relating to a guide that identifies information.
- Some students cheated by using the key.
- The key says that A stands for the accounting department.
4.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).
- Safe-deposit boxes open with a special key.
- The gym will give you a fob that opens the door.
- The exterminator will bring a key thingy that can open the bait boxes.
1.Indispensable, supremely important.
- He is the key player on his soccer team.
- The enemy is moving troops through a key area. Distrupt their activities to open some holes in their defenses.
- Lukas intimates that one of Disney's key attractions was "Main Street USA,” which "mimicked a downtown business district just as Southdale" had done.
2.Important, salient.
- She makes several key points.
- 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.
1.To fit (a lock) with a key.
2.To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1149
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English keye, kaye, keiȝe, from Old English cǣġ (“key, solution, experiment”) (whence also Scots key and kay (“key”)), from Anglo-Frisian Proto-West Germanic *kaiju, of uncertain origin. The only sure cognates are Saterland Frisian Koai (“key”), West Frisian kaai (“key”), and North Frisian kai, koie (“key”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *kēgaz, *kēguz (“stake, post, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵogʰ-, *ǵegʰ-, *ǵegʰn- (“branch, stake, bush”), which would make it cognate with Middle Low German kāk (“whipping post, pillory”), and perhaps to Middle Dutch keige (“javelin, spear”) and Middle Low German keie, keige (“spear”).