code word

Definition of code wordnext

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of code word To coordinate events in real time, the team used code words and hand signals. Justin Ray, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2026 For our district, seniority has become a code word for stagnation. Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 20 May 2026 Sampson says her family now uses a code word. Mike Winters, CNBC, 9 May 2026 But according to a report Wander, a luxury vacation rental company, shared with Travel +Leisure via email, there are also several unofficial phrases and code words that may be used in the air. Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 20 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for code word
Recent Examples of Synonyms for code word
Noun
  • The media are somewhat responsible, so apologies for beating a dead metaphor.
    Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2026
  • This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.
    Rob Nixon, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2018
Noun
  • Palani, who started at Tesla when the company was making just one, fully electric vehicle per day, sees analogies to the years when Tesla started mass-manufacturing its entry level Model 3 sedans.
    Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 14 July 2026
  • Suskind uses an analogy from the 19th century, when a German chemist named Justus von Liebig created one of the first infant formulas, hoping to replicate the nourishment of human milk.
    Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 14 July 2026
Noun
  • An image may resonate with deeper meanings (that’s what great directors can bring about), but the compression and displacement that make the simile devastating on the page have no cinematic equivalent.
    David Denby, New Yorker, 21 June 2026
  • Salazar-Thompson’s witty script — packed with hilarious metaphors and similes (like comparing a woman’s firm grip on her purse to that of a two-toed sloth on a branch) — make for a consistently amusing trip back in time.
    Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • Tshabalala’s bluntness about the economic cost is the rare honest signal here; business will not be pacified by euphemisms.
    Tiisetso Motsoeneng, semafor.com, 10 July 2026
  • The Execution Crisis Defined Rasmus Holst, CEO of Zensai, describes it without euphemism.
    Connie Etemadi, USA Today, 9 June 2026
Noun
  • The boxing ring metaphor was largely abandoned once the competition began, even though there were more opportunities to mix baseball’s tradition of walkup music with fight sports’ swaggering walkouts.
    Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 14 July 2026
  • Herman Melville, no stranger to the sea and its metaphors, was busy writing.
    Steven Johnson, Washington Post, 14 July 2026
Noun
  • But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness.
    Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion.
    Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Code word.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/code%20word. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

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