Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A word, phrase, or alphanumeric character used to identify an item in an information storage and retrieval system.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun computing The name of a category of data in an information storage and retrieval system.
  • noun information science A word that describes the subject of an article or book.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a piece of stored information that is used to identify an item in an information storage and retrieval system
  • noun the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin dēscrīptor, describer, from Latin dēscrībere, dēscrīpt-, to describe; see describe.]

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