Definition of key

"key" in the noun sense

1. key

metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock's mechanism can be rotated

2. key

something crucial for explaining

"the key to development is economic integration"

3. key

pitch of the voice

"he spoke in a low key"

4. key, tonality

any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music

5. key

a kilogram of a narcotic drug

"they were carrying two keys of heroin"

6. samara, key fruit, key

a winged often one-seed indehiscent fruit as of the ash or elm or maple

7. Key, Francis Scott Key

United States lawyer and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812 the poem was later set to music and entitled `The Star-Spangled Banner' (1779-1843)

8. key, cay, Florida key

a coral reef off the southern coast of Florida

9. key, paint

basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court usually painted a different color from the rest of the court

"he hit a jump shot from the top of the key"

"he dominates play in the paint"

10. key

a list of answers to a test

"some students had stolen the key to the final exam"

11. key

a list of words or phrases that explain symbols or abbreviations

12. key

a generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access

"a safe-deposit box usually requires two keys to open it"

13. winder, key

mechanical device used to wind another device that is driven by a spring (as a clock)

14. keystone, key, headstone

the central building block at the top of an arch or vault

15. key

a lever (as in a keyboard) that actuates a mechanism when depressed

"key" in the verb sense

1. identify, discover, key, key out, distinguish, describe, name

identify as in botany or biology, for example

2. key

provide with a key

"We were keyed after the locks were changed in the building"

3. key

vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key

"His new Mercedes was keyed last night in the parking lot"

4. key

regulate the musical pitch of

5. key

harmonize with or adjust to

"key one's actions to the voters' prevailing attitude"

"key" in the adjective sense

1. cardinal, central, fundamental, key, primal

serving as an essential component

"a cardinal rule"

"the central cause of the problem"

"an example that was fundamental to the argument"

"computers are fundamental to modern industrial structure"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


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Quotations for key

Sloth is the key to poverty. [ German Proverb ]

Your key fits not that lock. [ Proverb ]

A gold key opens every door. [ Proverb ]

Idleness is the key of beggary. [ Spurgeon ]

Words are the key of the heart.

Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne'er turns the key to the poor. [ William Shakespeare ]

The wife is the key of the house. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

Love is the pass-key to the heart. [ Mme. Necker ]

A silver key can open an iron lock. [ Proverb ]

Obedience is the key to every door. [ George MacDonald ]

To wind the mighty secrets of the past.
And turn the key of time. [ Henry Kirk White ]

To God's council-chamber we have no key. [ Danish Proverb ]

Keep thy friend under thy own life's key. [ William Shakespeare ]

Lose not thyself, nor give thy humors way;
God gave them to thee under lock and key. [ George Herbert ]

I know there are voices I do not hear,
And colors I do not see;
I know that the world has numberless doors
Of which I have not the key. [ Minot J. Savage ]

April and May are the key of alt the year. [ Proverb ]

Love not thyself, nor give thy humours way;
God gave them to thee under lock and key. [ George Herbert ]

See what money can do: that can change
Men's manners; alter their conditions!
How tempestuous the slaves are without it!
O thou powerful metal! what authority
Is in thee! thou art the key to all mens
Mouths: with thee, a man may lock up the jaws
Of an informer; and without thee, he
Cannot open the lips of a lawyer. [ Richard Brome ]

Moderation is the key-note of lasting enjoyment. [ Hosea Ballou ]

That golden key that opes the palace of eternity. [ Milton ]

Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature. [ J. C. and A. W. Hare ]

The mother in her office holds the key of the soul. [ Dibdin ]

He that will enter into Paradise must have a good key. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

Alms are the golden key that opens the gate of Heaven. [ Proverb ]

Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it. [ Proverb ]

He that will enter paradise must come with a right key. [ Proverb ]

Every fact that is learned becomes a key to other facts. [ Edward L. Youmans ]

He who binds his soul to knowledge steals the key of heaven. [ N. P. Willis ]

Prayer should be the key of the day, and the lock of the night. [ Proverb ]

Laughter is the cipher-key wherewith we decipher the whole man. [ Carlyle ]

Love is the master-key that opens every ward of the heart of man. [ J. H. Evans ]

To believe and go forward is the key to success and to happiness. [ Lilian Whiting ]

'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it. [ William Shakespeare ]

Justice is the key-note of the world, and all else is ever out of tune. [ Theodore Parker ]

An index is the soul of a book; it is the key to its essence of thought. [ James Ellis ]

The alphabet of a language is the key by which we unlock the thoughts of its people. [ Alabaster ]

Soon as man, expert from time, has found the key of life, it opes the gates of death. [ Young ]

The tongue of a fool is the key of his counsel, which, in a wise man, wisdom hath in keeping. [ Socrates ]

Prudent men lock up their motives, letting familiars have a key to their hearts, as to their garden. [ Shenstone ]

It is rare that, after having given the key of her heart, a woman does not change the lock the day after. [ Sainte-Beuve ]

Knowledge is the treasure of the mind, but discretion is the key to it, without which it is useless. The practical part of wisdom is the best. [ Owen Feltham ]

Simple as it seems, it was a great discovery that the key of knowledge could turn both ways, that it could open, as well as lock, the door of power to the many. [ Lowell ]

Our brains are seventy-year clocks. The Angel of Life winds them up once for all, then closes the case, and gives the key into the hands of the Angel of the Resurrection. [ Oliver Wendell Holmes ]

In beginning the world, if you don't wish to get chafed at every turn, fold up your pride carefully, put it under lock and key, and only let it out to air upon grand occasions. Pride is a garment all stiff brocade outside, all grating sackcloth on the side next to the skin. [ Lytton ]

Have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to read means? That it is the key which admits us to the whole world of thought and fancy and imagination? to the company of saint and sage, of the wisest and the wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moment? That it enables us to see with the keenest eyes, hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweetest voices of all time? More than that, it annihilates time and space for us. [ Lowell ]

key in Scrabble®

The word key is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 10

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays In The Letters key:

KEY
(30)
KEY
(30)
KEY
(30)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word key

KEY
(30)
KEY
(30)
KEY
(30)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(19)
KEY
(18)
KEY
(15)
KEY
(14)
KEY
(12)
KEY
(11)
KEY
(10)

The 23 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In key

KEY
(30)
KEY
(30)
KEY
(30)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(20)
KEY
(19)
KEY
(18)
YE
(15)
YE
(15)
KEY
(15)
KEY
(14)
YE
(13)
KEY
(12)
KEY
(11)
YE
(10)
YE
(10)
KEY
(10)
YE
(9)
YE
(7)
YE
(6)
YE
(5)

key in Words With Friends™

The word key is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 9

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays In The Letters key:

KEY
(27)
KEY
(27)
KEY
(27)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word key

KEY
(27)
KEY
(27)
KEY
(27)
KEY
(25)
KEY
(19)
KEY
(18)
KEY
(18)
KEY
(18)
KEY
(17)
KEY
(15)
KEY
(14)
KEY
(12)
KEY
(11)
KEY
(10)
KEY
(9)

The 24 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In key

KEY
(27)
KEY
(27)
KEY
(27)
KEY
(25)
KEY
(19)
KEY
(18)
KEY
(18)
KEY
(18)
KEY
(17)
KEY
(15)
KEY
(14)
YE
(12)
YE
(12)
KEY
(12)
KEY
(11)
KEY
(10)
YE
(10)
KEY
(9)
YE
(8)
YE
(8)
YE
(7)
YE
(6)
YE
(5)
YE
(4)

Words within the letters of key

2 letter words in key (1 word)

3 letter words in key (1 word)

key + 1 blank (7 words)

Words containing the sequence key

Word Growth involving key

Shorter words in key

(No shorter words found)

Longer words containing key

bedkey bedkeys

blokey

buckeye buckeyes

cakey fruitcakey

cockeye cockeyed cockeyedly

cockeye cockeyed cockeyedness

cockeye cockeyes

dickeybird dickeybirds

donkey donkeys

flakey

flukey

flunkey flunkeys

hawkeye hawkeyed

hawkeye hawkeyes

hickey doohickey doohickeys

hickey hickeys doohickeys

hockey

jockey diskjockey diskjockeys

jockey jockeyed outjockeyed

jockey jockeying outjockeying

jockey jockeyish

jockey jockeys diskjockeys

jockey jockeys outjockeys

jockey outjockey outjockeyed

jockey outjockey outjockeying

jockey outjockey outjockeys

keyboard keyboarded rekeyboarded

keyboard keyboarder keyboarders

keyboard keyboarding keyboardings

keyboard keyboarding rekeyboarding

keyboard keyboardist keyboardists

keyboard keyboards rekeyboards

keyboard nonkeyboard

keyboard rekeyboard rekeyboarded

keyboard rekeyboard rekeyboarding

keyboard rekeyboard rekeyboards

keycard keycards

keychain keychains

keyclick keyclicks

keycutter keycutters

keyed cockeyed cockeyedly

keyed cockeyed cockeyedness

keyed hawkeyed

keyed jockeyed outjockeyed

keyed miskeyed

keyed monkeyed

keyed rekeyed

keyed unkeyed

keyfob keyfobs

keyholder keyholders

keyhole keyholes

keying jockeying outjockeying

keying miskeying

keying monkeying

keying rekeying

keyless

keylight keylights

keylock

keylog keylogged

keylog keylogger keyloggers

keylog keylogging

keylog keylogs

keynote keynoted

keynote keynoter keynoters

keynote keynotes

keynoting

keypad keypads

keyphrase keyphrases

keypress keypresser keypressers

keypress keypresses

keypunch keypunched

keypunch keypuncher keypunchers

keypunch keypunches

keypunch keypunching

keyring keyrings

keys bedkeys

keys donkeys

keys flunkeys

keys hickeys doohickeys

keys jockeys diskjockeys

keys jockeys outjockeys

keys keyseat keyseating

keys keyseat keyseats

keys keyset keysets

keys keyslot keyslots

keys keysmith keysmiths

keys keystone keystoned

keys keystone keystones

keys keystoning

keys keystore keystores

keys keystroke keystroked

keys keystroke keystrokes

keys keystroking keystrokings

keys lackeys

keys latchkeys

keys masterkeys

keys mickeys

keys miskeys

keys monkeys monkeyshine monkeyshines

keys passkeys

keys pinkeys

keys rekeys

keys turkeys

keys turnkeys

keys whiskeys

keys zebonkeys

keys zebronkeys

keys zonkeys

keyway keyways

keyword keywords

lackey blackeye blackeyes

lackey lackeys

latchkey latchkeys

masterkey masterkeys

mickey mickeys

miskey miskeyed

miskey miskeying

miskey miskeys

monkey monkeyed

monkey monkeying

monkey monkeyish

monkey monkeylike

monkey monkeypod monkeypods

monkey monkeypox monkeypoxes

monkey monkeys monkeyshine monkeyshines

monkey monkeytrick monkeytricks

monkey spidermonkey

monokeyal

passkey passkeys

pinkey pinkeye pinkeyes

pinkey pinkeys

polykeyal

rekey rekeyboard rekeyboarded

rekey rekeyboard rekeyboarding

rekey rekeyboard rekeyboards

rekey rekeyed

rekey rekeying

rekey rekeys

smokey

snakey

sockeye sockeyes

tackey

turkey turkeyfish turkeyfishes

turkey turkeylike

turkey turkeys

turnkey turnkeys

whiskey whiskeys

zebonkey zebonkeys

zebronkey zebronkeys

zonkey zonkeys