1
2
as in numbers
a person of no importance or influence
it was either write the Great American Novel or be consigned to the status of a cipher in the annals of literature
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in figures
to determine (a value) by doing the necessary mathematical operations
were surprised by how much we had spent on the cruise after we had ciphered out the grand total
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ciphers
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
As zonky cross-generational ciphers go, the group’s debut, Strictly 4 the Scythe, is no Hypnotize Camp Posse, the amalgam of Three 6 Mafia and a grip of artists signed to their Hypnotize Minds label in the early 2000s.
—
Dylan Green,
Pitchfork,
12 Mar. 2026
The still-unidentified Zodiac Killer, who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s, frequently sent threats, demands and ciphers to multiple local papers — namely the San Francisco Chronicle.
—
Jami Ganz,
New York Daily News,
21 Feb. 2026
The Blind Owl is extremely dense, brimming with metaphors and ciphers and symbols.
—
Amir Ahmadi Arian,
The Dial,
15 Jan. 2026
Like Dostoyevsky, Capote doesn’t portray his killers as demonic ciphers, instead capturing their messy complexity.
—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
Two streetlamps engaged in a mute but luminous dialogue, an indecipherable Morse code, alluding to the silent exchanges and secret ciphers of strangers who meet there for their trysts.
—
Javier Montes,
Artforum,
1 Jan. 2026
Such ciphers are easy to crack using techniques such as checking letter frequency and identifying common patterns.
—
PC Magazine,
7 Oct. 2025
She, the cinema; he, the audience — these ciphers would be compelling in short-form, but in carrying a feature they’re only buoyed by the natural chemistry of their performers.
—
Blake Simons,
IndieWire,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
Consider a dashboard that shows applications, including keys and libraries; network traffic protocols and ciphers; hardware, such as HSMs and TPMs; and third-party dependencies, including cryptographic or software bills of materials.
—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
As zonky cross-generational ciphers go, the group’s debut, Strictly 4 the Scythe, is no Hypnotize Camp Posse, the amalgam of Three 6 Mafia and a grip of artists signed to their Hypnotize Minds label in the early 2000s.
—
Dylan Green,
Pitchfork,
12 Mar. 2026
The still-unidentified Zodiac Killer, who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s, frequently sent threats, demands and ciphers to multiple local papers — namely the San Francisco Chronicle.
—
Jami Ganz,
New York Daily News,
21 Feb. 2026
The Blind Owl is extremely dense, brimming with metaphors and ciphers and symbols.
—
Amir Ahmadi Arian,
The Dial,
15 Jan. 2026
Like Dostoyevsky, Capote doesn’t portray his killers as demonic ciphers, instead capturing their messy complexity.
—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
Two streetlamps engaged in a mute but luminous dialogue, an indecipherable Morse code, alluding to the silent exchanges and secret ciphers of strangers who meet there for their trysts.
—
Javier Montes,
Artforum,
1 Jan. 2026
Such ciphers are easy to crack using techniques such as checking letter frequency and identifying common patterns.
—
PC Magazine,
7 Oct. 2025
She, the cinema; he, the audience — these ciphers would be compelling in short-form, but in carrying a feature they’re only buoyed by the natural chemistry of their performers.
—
Blake Simons,
IndieWire,
6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ciphers
Noun
-
For those on a budget with slightly less zeroes, RPM Bakehouse is a more laissez-faire, cafe-slash bakery.
-
Kids whose families had been chased out of half of Europe started the picture studios, the scrap yards that became fortunes, and eventually the software companies that created a whole new world of ones and zeros.
Noun
-
Yvonne and Nick’s disastrous wedding dinner is the day the cast went from nobodies to actual practitioners of the reality-television arts and sciences.
-
Despite the tragicomic instability and the rotating cast of nobodies temporarily tasked with running the country, when seen in macroeconomic terms, Peru appears to be doing just fine, thank you.
Verb
-
The new 2nd Amendment case figures to be a major test of what kinds of firearms and ammunition are off-limits to state or federal regulation.
-
By Saturday the official death toll had climbed past 1,400, with thousands injured and tens of thousands reported missing—figures the authorities acknowledged were still rising.
Noun
-
Jupiter, by comparison, is as much as 35 times denser than these two lightweights.
-
Jupiter, by comparison, is as much as 35 times denser than these two lightweights.
Verb
-
The agency calculates the cost to plug them is around $155 million.
-
The handicap is determined by a volunteer gathering data in the air and a committee that calculates the maximum airspeed of each craft.
Noun
-
These stinging insects are black with yellow or white bands and are bigger than bees and yellow jackets.
-
But Dumont wanted to look beyond insects to find out know how the spindle behaves in mammalian cells like ours.
Noun
-
As virality goes, this is not a big number, but the passion that the account has aroused dwarfs its reach.
-
Major props to the dwarfs who saw this as a convenient way to score help in the cleaning department.
Cite this Entry
“Ciphers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ciphers. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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