debug
debug Lexical Profile
debug Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To identify and remove errors, flaws, or malfunctions from (computer hardware or software).
"She spent the entire afternoon trying to debug the new database script."
To detect and remove concealed microphones or electronic listening devices from (a room or building).
"Security specialists were hired to debug the conference room ahead of the diplomatic summit."
To rid (a plant, area, or animal) of insects or pests.
"The gardener used an organic spray to debug the rose bushes."
• noun
The process or an instance of identifying and removing errors from computer software or hardware.
"The engineering team ran a final debug on the application before releasing the update."
• Rhymes for debug
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the 1940s in aeronautics and early computing by combining the prefix 'de-' with 'bug' (a nineteenth-century engineering slang term for a mechanical defect), famously popularized in 1947 when Grace Hopper's team removed an actual moth trapped in a relay of the Harvard Mark II computer.