as in dead metaphor
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Recent Examples of code word
The posts are promptly posted and removed with code words and emojis used to market and sell illicit drugs.
—
Nickolaus Hayes, New York Daily News, 16 June 2024
Whereas other sites and apps almost eliminated drug postings after scrutiny by law enforcement, dealers on Craigslist seemingly remained active using code words.
—Kevinisha Walker, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2024
The number started out as a code word used by several stony Marin County high-school students trying to skirt police, parents and teachers.
—Brad Branan, Sacramento Bee, 21 Feb. 2024
Apple—that was the code word the Commander himself had chosen.
—Hazlitt, 24 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for code word 
Nickolaus Hayes, New York Daily News, 16 June 2024
Whereas other sites and apps almost eliminated drug postings after scrutiny by law enforcement, dealers on Craigslist seemingly remained active using code words.
—Kevinisha Walker, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2024
The number started out as a code word used by several stony Marin County high-school students trying to skirt police, parents and teachers.
—Brad Branan, Sacramento Bee, 21 Feb. 2024
Apple—that was the code word the Commander himself had chosen.
—Hazlitt, 24 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for code word
Recent Examples of Synonyms for code word
Noun
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Many of our emotion terms are references to states of the body—we’re downcast, bent out of shape, head over heels, shaken up, down in the mouth—which have slowly rigidified into dead metaphor.Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
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This shift reminds us that dead metaphors aren’t always terminally dead.Rob Nixon, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2018
Noun
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This analogy highlights the system's ability to enhance natural movement without overpowering it, making mobility more accessible and appealing to a wider range of users.Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report, Fox News, 3 Dec. 2024
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Those reaching for a historical analogy to the current zeitgeist should look to the mid-1990s, according to JPMorgan’s Tyler.Bloomberg, Fortune, 2 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Later, when asked about his evolution as a coach, Harbaugh described himself as open to change and used a mall-entrance simile to make his point.Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2024
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As the simile suggests, the pen could be used as a weapon, producing militant verses that would advance the nationalist cause.Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2024
Noun
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What perfectly plausible scenario happens in this movie, and why does its title sound like a euphemism for something very dirty?Laura Bradley, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2024
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Brown told The Associated Press in October 2021 that the euphemism actually ended up hurting his race team.Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 5 Nov. 2024
Noun
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The exhibition’s title Sailing to Byzantium comes from a 1927 poem by William Butler Yeats, where the poet uses a sea voyage to Byzantium as a metaphor for a spiritual journey.Lee Sharrock, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
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Jim used the software provider as a metaphor for this market.Matthew J. Belvedere, CNBC, 9 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Here, instead, she’s swayed by a dead Diana softly squeezing her hand and kindly hinting — the dead Diana is an ace at tactful circumlocution — that now is the time to show a mourning nation some emotion.Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023
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By condensing Balzac’s opus to a few paragraphs, Barthelme was having a laugh not just at his predecessor’s genteel circumlocution—his tendency to describe buildings and manufacturing procedures and family trees in lavish detail—but also at the conventions of novelistic mimesis itself.Giles Harvey, The New York Review of Books, 23 Apr. 2020
Thesaurus Entries Near code word
Cite this Entry
“Code word.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/code%20word. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
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