key

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You're listening to Joanna
She has an American accent.

NGSL Rank: 658
key
kiː Listen
Meanings
noun
  • a small piece of shaped metal with incisions cut to fit the wards of a particular lock, which is inserted into a lock and turned to open or close it.
    E.g. there were two keys to the cupboard
  • each of several buttons on a panel for operating a computer, typewriter, or telephone.
    E.g. press the ENTER key
  • a thing that provides a means of achieving or understanding something.
    E.g. discipline seems to be the key to her success
  • a group of notes based on a particular note and comprising a scale, regarded as forming the tonal basis of a piece of music.
    E.g. the key of E minor
  • the dry winged fruit of an ash, maple, or sycamore, typically growing in bunches; a samara.
  • the part of a first coat of wall plaster that passes between the laths and so secures the rest.
  • the keyhole-shaped area marked on the court near each basket.
    E.g. he hit another jumper from the top of the key
adjective
  • of crucial importance.
    E.g. she became a key figure in the suffragette movement
verb
  • enter or operate on (data) by means of a computer keyboard or telephone keypad.
    E.g. not everyone can key data quickly and accurately
  • fasten (something) in position with a pin, wedge, or bolt.
    E.g. the coils may be keyed into the slots by fibre wedges
  • roughen (a surface) to help the adhesion of plaster or other material.
    E.g. a wooden float with nails driven through it is used to key the wall surface between coats
  • word (an advertisement in a periodical), typically by varying the form of the address given, so as to identify the publication generating particular responses.
    E.g. one keys advertisements and measures returns
  • vandalize (a car) by scraping its paint with a key.
  • be the crucial factor in achieving.
    E.g. Ewing keyed a 73–35 advantage on the boards with twenty rebounds
noun
  • a low-lying island or reef, especially in the Caribbean.

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key
Joanna
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