magic word
nounUK /ˌmædʒɪk ˈwɜːd/ · US /ˌmædʒɪk ˈwɝd/
1
Any word that has a magical effect when uttered.
2
One of the words please, thank you, or hello.
In teaching or training polite words to children
- If you learn to use magic words when you are little, it would be easy in your adulthood.
- What's the magic word?
3
Broadly Any word that is considered very significant in a certain situation or context.
- When someone offers you drugs, the magic word is no.
4
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A string of text having some special function or purpose.
- One of the magic words used in the MediaWiki software is __NOTOC__, which hides the table of contents that would normally be on the page.
- The header consists of an optional self-execution script, a magic word, a version number, and the word offset of the first instruction, relative to the magic word.2021, Clinton L. Jeffery, Build Your Own Programming Language, page 273:
- Synonyms
- magical word