CRYPTOGRAPHY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cryptography mean? 

• CRYPTOGRAPHY (noun)
  The noun CRYPTOGRAPHY has 2 senses:

1. the science of analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers and cryptograms

2. act of writing in code or cipher

  Familiarity information: CRYPTOGRAPHY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRYPTOGRAPHY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The science of analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers and cryptograms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

cryptanalysis; cryptanalytics; cryptography; cryptology

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

science; scientific discipline (a particular branch of scientific knowledge)

Derivation:

cryptographer (decoder skilled in the analysis of codes and cryptograms)

cryptographical (of or relating to cryptanalysis)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Act of writing in code or cipher

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

coding; cryptography; secret writing; steganography

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

committal to writing; writing (the activity of putting something in written form)

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

encoding; encryption (the activity of converting data or information into code)

recoding (converting from one code to another)

decipherment; decoding; decryption (the activity of making clear or converting from code into plain text)

Derivation:

cryptographer (decoder skilled in the analysis of codes and cryptograms)

cryptographical (of or relating to cryptanalysis)

 Context examples 

A mechanism for secure transport that uses public key cryptography as the basis for its functionality.

(Grid Security Infrastructure, NCI Thesaurus)