keystroke

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,888 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: keystrokes

A keystroke is a single press of a key. Count the keystrokes, a keystroke away, keystroke logging.

Keystroke logging is a real security threat, since software recording every key catches passwords before any encryption sees them. In old typing tests, speed was measured in keystrokes an hour rather than words a minute.

Definitions of keystroke

1nounkeystrokeA single press of a key.B2+
“With a single keystroke, she deleted the whole document by mistake.”

keystroke is a press.

Where it comes from

From key + stroke.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

keystroke in the wild

A keystroke recorder or keylogger can be either software or hardware.
Keystroke logging
A keyboard buffer is a section of computer memory used to hold keystrokes before they are processed.
Keyboard buffer
As the main computer receives each keystroke, it ordinarily appends the character which it represents to the end of the keyboard buffer.
Keyboard buffer
Typical uses of buzzers and beepers include alarm devices, timers, train and confirmation of user input such as a mouse click or keystroke.
Buzzer
Magic Lantern is a keystroke logging software created by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Magic Lantern (spyware)

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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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