code word

noun

a euphemistic or politically acceptable catchword or phrase used instead of a blunter or less acceptable term: The official report said the diplomats had a “frank and serious discussion”—code words for “angry argument.”

Origin:
1880–85

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10

Code word is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Example sentences

The best way to check this out is to come up with a code word that only you and

your parents or another special adult know.

Contingency plans, including identifying and circulating the code word to stop

the drill in case of an actual emergency.

Density is fast becoming a code word for justifying exclusionary zoning

practices.

Its often a code word which when coupled with a localized context takes on a

particular meaning.

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Matching Quote

"When I was quite young I fondly imagined that all foreign languages were codes for English. I thought that "hat," say, was the real and actual name of the thing, but that people in other countries, who obstinately persisted in speaking the code of their forefathers, might use the word "ibu," say, to designate not merely the concept hat, but the English word "hat." I knew only one foreign word, "oui," and since it had three letters as did the word for which it was a code, it seemed, touchingly enough, to confirm my theory."

-Annie Dillard