codename

nounB2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans written

Other forms: codenames

A codename is a false name used to hide who or what is meant. Under the codename, a military codename, assign a codename.

Good ones are chosen at random precisely so they give nothing away, and any operation named for what it does has failed at the first step. Software projects use them so an unannounced product can be discussed openly.

Definitions of codename

1nouncodenameA false name used to hide who or what is meant.B2
“The secret mission was given the codename Operation Sunrise.”

codename is a name.

Where it comes from

Code plus name, from code in the sense of a system for concealing meaning, from Latin codex.

From code + name.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Spying & Secrecy

Practise this word

codename in the wild

A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person.
Code name
Nightwing is a codename used by multiple characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
Nightwing
Since its debut in Superman #158, the codename has been tied to both Superman and Batman comic book titles and characters.
Nightwing
The codename "Nashville" was then reused for the Windows Desktop Update that shipped with Internet Explorer 4.0 and delivered most of the features promised for Nashville.
Windows Nashville
The resulting project, codenamed "Whistler", went on to become Windows XP.
Development of Windows XP

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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