[kee-wurd] 
| 1. | a word that serves as a key, as to the meaning of another word, a sentence, passage, or the like: Search the database for the keyword “Ireland.” |
| 2. | a word used to encipher or decipher a cryptogram, as a pattern for a transposition procedure or the basis for a complex substitution. |
| 3. | Also called catchword. Library Science. a significant or memorable word or term in the title, abstract, or text of an item being indexed, used as the index entry. |
| key·word also key word (kē'wûrd') n.
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