1
: one that hacks
2
: a person who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity
a tennis hacker
3
: an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer
4
: a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system
Examples of hacker in a Sentence
My friends and I have been playing golf for years, but we're still just a bunch of hackers.
the company's security experts spent days trying to figure out how a hacker could have gotten past the firewall
Recent Examples on the Web
Good luck to any hacker trying to get through Surfshark's rigorous security measures.
—
Chris McMullen, Space.com, 28 Nov. 2025
After detecting the operation in mid-September and conducting its own assessment, Anthropic concluded that hackers affiliated with the People’s Republic of China exploited the company’s Claude Code to commit the cyberattack.
—David Zimmermann, The Washington Examiner, 27 Nov. 2025
This comes after Chinese hackers earlier this month were suspected of using Anthropic’s AI coding tool to breach dozens of organizations, including tech companies and government agencies.
—John Kell, Fortune, 26 Nov. 2025
One reason is the proliferation of artificial intelligence, which has made the work of criminal hackers easier, cheaper and scalable.
—NPR, 26 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hacker
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Chris McMullen, Space.com, 28 Nov. 2025
After detecting the operation in mid-September and conducting its own assessment, Anthropic concluded that hackers affiliated with the People’s Republic of China exploited the company’s Claude Code to commit the cyberattack.
—David Zimmermann, The Washington Examiner, 27 Nov. 2025
This comes after Chinese hackers earlier this month were suspected of using Anthropic’s AI coding tool to breach dozens of organizations, including tech companies and government agencies.
—John Kell, Fortune, 26 Nov. 2025
One reason is the proliferation of artificial intelligence, which has made the work of criminal hackers easier, cheaper and scalable.
—NPR, 26 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hacker
Cite this Entry
“Hacker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hacker. Accessed 5 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
hacker
noun
hack·er
ˈhak-ər 
1
: one that hacks
2
: a person who is unskilled at a particular activity
3
: an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer
4
: a person who illegally gains access to a computer system
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