Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The analysis and deciphering of cryptographic writings or systems.
  • noun The study of techniques for deciphering cryptographic writings or systems.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun the science which studies methods to discovering the secret meaning of encrypted messages for which one does not possess the secret decoding information (called the key).
  • noun the methods and procedures used to discover the secret meaning hidden in encrypted messages.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The science of analyzing and breaking of codes and ciphers.
  • noun An analysis or decrypting of a specific text or a specific code or cipher.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the science of analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers and cryptograms

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[crypt(ogram) + analysis.]

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