What does "hacker" mean?
Someone who hacks.
Hacker
/hækə/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Someone who hacks.
- Grammar: hacker is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: attacker, attackers, billhook, coder.
- Useful contrasts: conformist, establishment figure, lawful user.
- Usage evidence: The hacker gained access to sensitive files in the company's database.
How to use "hacker"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hacker" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hacker" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hacker" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hacker" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hacker" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "attacker" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hacker", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Someone who hacks.
"A hacker hacked into his computer account yesterday."
- 2 One who operates a taxicab; a cabdriver. US
"Start runnin' for a streetcar and they open up with machine guns and bump two pedestrians, a hacker asleep in his cab, and an old scrubwoman on the second floor workin' a mop. And they miss the guy they're after."
- 3 one who works hard at boring tasks wordnet
- 4 Someone who hacks.; One who cuts with heavy or rough blows.
"[O]ne good hacker, being a luſty labourer, vvill at good eaſe hacke or cut more then halfe an Acre of ground in a day; […]"
- 5 a programmer for whom computing is its own reward; may enjoy the challenge of breaking into other computers but does no harm wordnet
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 Someone who hacks.; One who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity, especially (sports, originally and chiefly golf), a sport such as golf or tennis.
"a tennis hacker"
- 7 someone who plays golf poorly wordnet
- 8 Someone who hacks.; One who is expert at programming and solving problems with a computer. dated
"The Electrical Engineering Department, J. McKenzie in particular, for allowing me to use the PDP-1 computer to do the extensive computations, draw graphs, and even type this thesis. In this connection Charles Landau did some of the programming, Luella Thompson did most of the typing, and W. B. Ackermann helped when the machine would not cooperate. Many other computer hackers also willingly offered advice."
- 9 Someone who hacks.; One who is expert at programming and solving problems with a computer.; One who applies a novel method, shortcut, skill, or trick to something to increase ease, efficiency, or productivity. broadly, dated
"food hacker"
- 10 Someone who hacks.; One who uses a computer to gain unauthorized access to data stored in, or to carry out malicious attacks on, computer networks or computer systems.
"a phone hacker"
- 11 Someone who hacks.; Synonym of hackster (“a violent bully or ruffian; also, an assassin, a murderer”). obsolete
- 12 Something that hacks; a device or tool for hacking; specifically, an axe used for cutting tree branches or wood.
"Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall, and kicked her in the belly: that afterwards she picked her up, and beat her with the hacker on the side of the head; wiped the blood off with a dish-clout, and took her up to bed after she was dead."
- 13 Something that hacks; a device or tool for hacking; specifically, an axe used for cutting tree branches or wood.; A fork-shaped tool used to harvest root vegetables. British, regional
"The upper half of each swede-turnip had been eaten off by the live-stock, and it was the business of the two women to grab up the lower or earthy half of the root with a hooked fork called a hacker, that it might be eaten also."
Verb
- 1 To speak with a spasmodic repetition of vocal sounds; to stammer, to stutter; also, to mumble and procrastinate in one's speech; to hem and haw. British, archaic, dialectal, intransitive
"The interrupting of the Miniſter by the Clark, and the vvhole congregation, vvhen he readeth the Pſalms, by taking every other verſe out of his mouth, vvith an hackering confuſed noiſe, eſpecially in countrey Churches, vvhere the people cannot read vvell."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
Antonyms
Example
"The hacker gained access to sensitive files in the company's database."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hacker"?
Common synonyms include: attacker, attackers, billhook, coder, cracker, crackers.
How do you use "hacker" in a sentence?
The hacker gained access to sensitive files in the company's database.
How do you pronounce "hacker"?
Pronounced /hækə/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Late Middle English hackere, hakker, hakkere (“one who cuts wood, woodchopper, woodcutter; (rare) tool for cutting wood”), from hakken, hacke (“to cut (something) with a chopping action, hack; to make a chopping action”) + -er(e) (suffix forming agent nouns). Hakken is derived from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop, hack”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; a handle; a hook; a peg”). The English word may be analysed as hack (“to chop or cut down in a rough manner”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
Etymology 2
Possibly from hack(ney cab) (“carriage pulled by a hackney horse, or motorized vehicle, available for public hire”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
Etymology 3
From hack (“(obsolete) to confuse or mangle (words) when speaking”) + -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs).
Etymology 4
English, Dutch, German and Jewish occupational surname, all from the noun hacker (“one who hacks”). The Jewish form probably arrives via Yiddish העקער (heker), from צעהאַקן (tsehakn) (see German hacken).