key in

phraseB1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To key in is to type information into a machine. Numbers on a keypad, mostly.

It belongs to card readers, alarms and telephone systems rather than to writing generally, so keying in a PIN is the standard use and nobody keys in an email. It splits round an object. The word survives from a time when typing was called keying, and a keyboard operator was a job title. Enter is the word most systems now use on screen.

Definitions of key in

1phrasekey inTo enter data by typing it on a keypad or keyboard.B1
“Key in the four-digit code and press the green button.”

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

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key in

phraseB1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To key in is to type information into a machine. Numbers on a keypad, mostly.

Definitions of key in

1phrasekey inTo enter data by typing it on a keypad or keyboard.B1
“Key in the four-digit code and press the green button.”

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word