often attributive
1
a
b
: one that has no weight, worth, or influence : nonentity
It was an odd fact that the financier, a cipher in his own home, could impress all sorts of people at the office.—P. G. Wodehouse
Why did the family, I wondered, act as if Rita hardly existed? Was she that much of a cipher?—Andrew M. Greeley
2
a
: a method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning
secret communications written in cipher
compare code sense 3b
b
: a message in code
The cipher cannot be decoded without the key.
3
4
: a combination of symbolic letters
especially
: the interwoven initials of a name
coins that bore the cipher of the sultan
ciphered; ciphering
ˈsī-f(ə-)riŋ
: to use figures in a mathematical process
all children should learn to read, write, and cipher—M. Pattison
1
: encipher
ciphered the letters that passed between the two heads of state
2
: to compute arithmetically
ciphered out the sum in his head
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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