honeypot

noun

hon·​ey·​pot ˈhə-nē-ˌpät How to pronounce honeypot (audio)
1
: one that is attractive or desirable
2
: a substantial source of money

Examples of honeypot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The following figure tracks the number of attacks delivered to the honeypot over the past year. Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2024 The digitally literate among us will of course recognize this as some kind of half-assed honeypot. Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 22 Feb. 2024 Australian honeypot ants gather nectar from a range of floral sources, but they’re thought to prefer a sticky, sweet substance called honeydew made by mulga trees and aphids. Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 July 2023 These displays were a honeypot to entice would-be players—and often wholly unnecessary. Megan Farokhmanesh, WIRED, 12 Dec. 2023 There’s the twentysomething who entraps insurrectionists on a dating app in a modern-day honeypot scheme, the mom who uses her Facebook stalking skills in the name of justice, and the suburban dad who spends the weekend in his garage developing an app to help identify rioters. Grace Segers, The New Republic, 10 Oct. 2023 Giving users control of their digital identities frees businesses from the liability of storing private data and eliminates the data honeypot that’s such an attractive target for fraudsters. Mike Tuchen, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023 These common user inputs are a veritable gold mine for any foreign or malicious actor that sees chatbots as an opportunity to target state secrets, like thousands of digital honeypots. Remaya M. Campbell, Scientific American, 17 July 2023 So was the plum pudding, which melted in one’s mouth, likewise the jellies, in which Amy reveled like a fly in a honeypot. Anna Luisa Rodriguez, Washington Post, 11 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'honeypot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of honeypot was in 1924

Dictionary Entries Near honeypot

Cite this Entry

“Honeypot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honeypot. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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