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TOKEN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Something of sentimental value
Synonyms:
keepsake; relic; souvenir; token
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("token" is a kind of...):
object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "token"):
love-token (keepsake given as a token of love)
favor; favour; party favor; party favour (souvenir consisting of a small gift given to a guest at a party)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A metal or plastic disk that can be redeemed or used in designated slot machines
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("token" is a kind of...):
disc; disk (a flat circular plate)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "token"):
subway token (a token that is used to pay for entry to the subway system)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Something serving as a sign of something else
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("token" is a kind of...):
mark; sign (a perceptible indication of something not immediately apparent (as a visible clue that something has happened))
Sense 4
Meaning:
An individual instance of a type of symbol
Example:
the word 'error' contains three tokens of 'r'
Synonyms:
item; token
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("token" is a kind of...):
symbol (an arbitrary sign (written or printed) that has acquired a conventional significance)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "token"):
postage; postage stamp; stamp (a small adhesive token stuck on a letter or package to indicate that that postal fees have been paid)
trading stamp (a token resembling a stamp given by a retailer to a buyer; the token is redeemable for articles on a special list)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Insignificantly small; a matter of form only ('tokenish' is informal)
Example:
a tokenish gesture
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
minimal; minimum (the least possible)
Context examples:
While he went wild with happiness when Thornton touched him or spoke to him, he did not seek these tokens.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Dreadful question: there was no one here to answer it—not even dumb sign, mute token.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Each state has a probability distribution over the possible output tokens.
(Hidden Markov Model, NCI Thesaurus)
Professor Summerlee for once was too depressed to argue, though he shook his head violently as a token of general disagreement.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There was accusation in her manner, and I shrugged my shoulders in token that I was not guilty of the unknown crime imputed to me.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
The soil was barren, scarcely affording pasture for a few miserable cows, and oatmeal for its inhabitants, which consisted of five persons, whose gaunt and scraggy limbs gave tokens of their miserable fare.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I afterwards saw five or six of different ages, the youngest not above two hundred years old, who were brought to me at several times by some of my friends; but although they were told, that I was a great traveller, and had seen all the world, they had not the least curiosity to ask me a question; only desired I would give them slumskudask, or a token of remembrance; which is a modest way of begging, to avoid the law, that strictly forbids it, because they are provided for by the public, although indeed with a very scanty allowance.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
When it came to the moment of parting, he would take her hand, he would not be denied it; he said nothing, however, or nothing that she heard, and when he had left the room, she was better pleased that such a token of friendship had passed.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Mr. Churchill had made a point of it, as a token of respect to the wife he had so very recently lost; and every body admitted it to be no more than due decorum.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
