keyword

Etymology

key + word

noun

1. (cryptography) Any word used as the key to a code.
   Coordinate term: keyphrase
2. (information science) Any word used in a reference work to link to other words or other information.
3. (information science) Any important word in a text or document, which may be linked to other words or other information, or at least merely listed in the metadata for searches to find.
   Coordinate term: keyphrase
4. (programming) A reserved word used to identify a specific command, function, etc.
   Each function has an entry address which must be quoted after the USR keyword. 1982, Popular Computing, volume 1, numbers 9-12, page 113
   Since C++11, the auto keyword is used to tell the compiler to deduce the actual type of a variable that is being declared from its initializer. 2017, Wisnu Anggoro, Learning C++ Functional Programming, page 8
5. (linguistics) Any word that occurs in a text more often than normal.

verb

1. (transitive) To tag with keywords, as for example to facilitate searching.
   Besides being able to search the photography collections, of which 3,000 images have been scanned in so far, the feature is meant to provide a more subjective and spontaneous way for visitors to view the art: browsing images, looking at them sequentially and keywording, or tagging, them for themselves and other viewers. March 12, 2008, Philip Gefter, “Type in ‘Native American’ and Search (Someday) 13 Million Photos”, in New York Times