hacker

noun

hack·​er ˈha-kər 

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

Synonyms of hacker

• cracker
• cyberpunk
• geek

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

The company says hackers accessed one of its systems that stores electronic health records, not confirmed patient records themselves. —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 7 Apr. 2026

Anthropic will make its new AI model available to some of the world’s biggest cybersecurity and software firms in an effort to slow the arms race ignited by AI in the hands of hackers, Anthropic said Tuesday. —Sean Lyngaas, CNN Money, 7 Apr. 2026

The hackers have been breaking into Rockwell’s Studio 5000 Logix Designer, a customizable program to control industrial systems, the advisory said. —Kevin Collier, NBC news, 7 Apr. 2026

Americans may be unwittingly giving hackers an easy path to access their houses. —Justin Klawans, TheWeek, 6 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for hacker

• acker
• backer
• blacker
• cracker
• lacquer
• packer
• slacker
• stacker
• thacker
• tracker
• attacker
• backpacker

Kids 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