CIPHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cipher mean? 

• CIPHER (noun)
  The noun CIPHER has 5 senses:

1. a message written in a secret code

2. a mathematical element that when added to another number yields the same number

3. a quantity of no importance

4. a person of no influence

5. a secret method of writing

  Familiarity information: CIPHER used as a noun is common.

• CIPHER (verb)
  The verb CIPHER has 2 senses:

1. convert ordinary language into code

2. make a mathematical calculation or computation

  Familiarity information: CIPHER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIPHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A message written in a secret code

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cipher; cypher

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

0; cipher; cypher; nought; zero

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A quantity of no importance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

I didn't hear zilch about it

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 4

Meaning:

A person of no influence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

cipher; cypher; nobody; nonentity

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"):

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

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

Sense 5

Meaning:

A secret method of writing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cipher; cryptograph; cypher; secret code

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)

• CIPHER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cipher    ... he / she / it ciphers   
Past simple: ciphered   
Past participle: ciphered   
-ing form: ciphering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Convert ordinary language into code

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

We should encode the message for security reasons

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a mathematical calculation or computation

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

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

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)

 Context examples 

“And not a very obscure cipher, Watson,” said he.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yes, sir, a cipher telegram has been despatched.

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

Afterwards he had, to fulfill the prearranged cipher, to fill in any two words in each space.

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

Life had always seemed a peculiarly sacred thing, but here it counted for nothing, was a cipher in the arithmetic of commerce.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But three of the number can read: none write or cipher.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Lady Bertram seems more of a cipher now than when he is at home; and nobody else can keep Mrs. Norris in order.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The lock was silver, though tarnished from age; at each end were the imperfect remains of handles also of silver, broken perhaps prematurely by some strange violence; and, on the centre of the lid, was a mysterious cipher, in the same metal.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It was much easier to chat than to study; much pleasanter to let her imagination range and work at Harriet's fortune, than to be labouring to enlarge her comprehension or exercise it on sober facts; and the only literary pursuit which engaged Harriet at present, the only mental provision she was making for the evening of life, was the collecting and transcribing all the riddles of every sort that she could meet with, into a thin quarto of hot-pressed paper, made up by her friend, and ornamented with ciphers and trophies.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Underneath is written in a hand so shaky as to be hardly legible, ‘Beddoes writes in cipher to say H. has told all. Sweet Lord, have mercy on our souls!’

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

Your cipher was not difficult, madam.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)