cryptographer

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noun cryp·tog·ra·pher \ krip-ˈtä-grə-fər \

Definition of cryptographer

:a specialist in cryptography: such as

a :a clerk who enciphers and deciphers messages

b :one who devises cryptographic methods or systems

c :cryptanalyst

Recent Examples of cryptographer from the Web

Japanese code breakers were adept at deciphering American radio traffic, but cryptographers never cracked the Navajo system.

— carl prine, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Miramar Marine museum marks 75th anniversary of Navajo code talkers," 27 Aug. 2017
Widespread modern encryption methods like RSA, named for the initials of the cryptographers who developed it, rely on the use of hugely complex numbers derived from prime numbers.

— sam biddle, The Intercept, "NYU Accidentally Exposed Military Code-breaking Computer Project to Entire Internet," 11 May 2017
Most female Marines held clerical and administrative jobs, but others worked as radio operators, photographers, control tower operators, weather observers, musicians, statisticians, journalists and cryptographers.

— matt schudel, Washington Post, "Julia E. Hamblet, director of Women Marines in the 1950s, dies at 100," 25 Apr. 2017
Before the Doolittle mission, the Japanese navy was observing near radio silence, frustrating the efforts of American cryptographers, who had deciphered only about 10 percent of the Imperial Navy's code book.

— National Geographic, "Trained in Secret, These Fearless Pilots Retaliated for Pearl Harbor," 15 Apr. 2017
Oliver Strachey, his bookish, puzzle-loving father, trained as a pianist and became a cryptographer.

— adam davidson, The New Yorker, "Christopher Strachey’s Nineteen-Fifties Love Machine," 14 Feb. 2017
Kiziltan and his collaborators drew on a mathematical theory developed in the 1950s by two American cryptographers to help chart the probable distributions of stars in 47 Tucanae.

— ben panko, Smithsonian, "How Astrophysicists Found a Black Hole Where No One Else Could," 10 Feb. 2017
After a stint in Washington as a cryptographer for the United States army, Mr. Redstone returned to Harvard to earn a law degree.

— michael j. de la merced, New York Times, "How Sumner Redstone Went From Army Cryptographer to Media Mogul," 5 May 2016
After a stint in Washington as a cryptographer for the United States army, Mr. Redstone returned to Harvard to earn a law degree.

— michael j. de la merced, New York Times, "How Sumner Redstone Went From Army Cryptographer to Media Mogul," 5 May 2016

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