cipher

noun, often attributive

ci·pher | \ ˈsī-fər

Definition of cipher

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : zero sense 1a

b : one that has no weight, worth, or influence : nonentity It was an odd fact that the financier, a cipher in his own home, could impress all sorts of people at the office.— P. G. Wodehouse Why did the family, I wondered, act as if Rita hardly existed? Was she that much of a cipher?— Andrew M. Greeley

2a : a method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning secret communications written in cipher — compare code sense 3b

b : a message in code The cipher cannot be decoded without the key.

3 : arabic numeral

4 : a combination of symbolic letters especially : the interwoven initials of a name coins that bore the cipher of the sultan

cipher

verb

ciphered; ciphering\ ˈsī-f(ə-)riŋ

Definition of cipher (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

: to use figures in a mathematical process all children should learn to read, write, and cipher— M. Pattison

transitive verb

1 : encipher ciphered the letters that passed between the two heads of state

2 : to compute arithmetically ciphered out the sum in his head

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about cipher

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Synonyms for cipher

Synonyms: Noun

aught,
goose egg,
naught
(also nought),
nil,
nothing,
o,
oh,
zero,
zilch,
zip

Synonyms: Verb

Examples of cipher in a Sentence

Noun a cipher that can't be decoded She was nothing more than a cipher. Verb were surprised by how much we had spent on the cruise after we had ciphered out the grand total

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Biden is a Potemkin village cipher fronting for a party that won’t stand up to the socialist-woke madness destroying what was once the freest and most prosperous country in world history. — Matt Labash, The New Republic, "An Epic Debate on Trump and True Evangelicalism," 5 Apr. 2021 This is surely so, but the subject demands a colder, less prejudiced eye, one better attuned to detail and less apt to see in the misery of others a cipher for private ordeals or an occasion for the display of virtues. — Adrian Nathan West, Washington Examiner, "Smash, Champ, Huck, Porkchop," 4 Mar. 2021 These are sets of numbers that a mathematical algorithm generates for a unique user, encoded with a cipher. — Yec, Forbes, "Digital Signature Functionality For B2B E-Commerce," 1 Mar. 2021 In a different, less capable production, Jill could be a cipher, simply there to add a female voice to a mostly male cast. — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, "Review: HBO Max's AIDS crisis drama 'It's A Sin' is the best show of 2021 so far," 22 Feb. 2021 Levinson and his collaborators seek to make, rather than being a revelatory window into a character that sometimes felt like a cipher. — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, "Euphoria Special Recap: Most Girls," 25 Jan. 2021 This assassination game puts you in the shoes of Agent 47, a cipher who plans out kills like a series of puzzles in large locations ripe with opportunity. — Washington Post, "The most anticipated games of 2021," 29 Dec. 2020 Months earlier the paper received a cipher from the Zodiac Killer that had 408 characters. — Robert Gearty, Fox News, "Zodiac Killer cipher cracked after being mailed to San Francisco newspaper 51 years ago," 11 Dec. 2020 The San Francisco Police Department has also been made aware of the solved cipher, and said the information has been sent to the department's cold case homicide investigators. — Leah Asmelash And Cheri Mossburg, CNN, "After 51 years, the Zodiac Killer's cipher has been solved by amateur codebreakers," 11 Dec. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb These remnants, signals from an earlier phase of our human condition, have been endlessly ciphered by generations of archaeologists in the Bears Ears region (which is named for twin buttes near its center). — Stephen Nash, New York Times, "At Bears Ears in Utah, Heated Politics and Precious Ruins," 25 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cipher.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.