hacker
hacker Lexical Profile
hacker Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person who uses technical skill and specialized software to gain unauthorized access to computer systems, networks, or digital data.
"The cybersecurity team patched the vulnerability before any hacker could access the customer database."
An enthusiastic and highly skilled computer programmer or technologist who enjoys exploring software systems and devising clever, unconventional solutions.
"The annual technology conference brings together open-source developers and hardware hackers from around the world."
An unskilled or inexperienced player in a sport, especially golf or tennis, who plays casually and with poor technique.
"Even a weekend hacker can enjoy the scenic fairways of the municipal golf course."
Word Nuance & Usage
In everyday usage, 'hacker' usually implies malicious cybercriminal activity, whereas within the software engineering community it retains its original positive sense of an inventive programmer who builds clever solutions; malicious actors are sometimes distinguished as 'crackers' or 'black-hat hackers'.
• Rhymes for hacker
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from the verb 'hack' (from Old English 'haccian', meaning to cut or chop roughly), the computing sense emerged at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1950s and 1960s to describe students who devised ingenious technical shortcuts on model train relays and early mainframe computers.