Dictionary

An object designed to open and close a lock.

An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.

A crucial step or requirement.

Example: The key to solving this problem is persistence.

A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.

Example: The key says that A stands for the accounting department.

To fit (a lock) with a key.

To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.

To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.

(telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).

Indispensable, supremely important.

Example: He is the key player on his soccer team.

Important, salient.

Example: She makes several key points.

One of a string of small islands.

Example: the Florida Keys

A stone or concrete structure on navigable water used for loading and unloading vessels; a wharf.

In the International System of Units, the base unit of mass; conceived of as the mass of one litre of water, but now defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10-34 when expressed in units of kg⋅m2⋅s−1. Symbol: kg

The unit of weight such that a one-kilogram mass is also a one-kilogram weight.