hacker

noun hack·er \ ˈha-kər \

Updated on: 16 Nov 2017

Definition of hacker

1 : one that hacks

2 : a person who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity

a tennis hacker

3 : an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer

4 : a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system

See hacker defined for English-language learners

See hacker defined for kids

Examples of hacker in a Sentence

My friends and I have been playing golf for years, but we're still just a bunch of hackers.
the company's security experts spent days trying to figure out how a hacker could have gotten past the firewall

Recent Examples of hacker from the Web

The biggest attention hacker is none other than Mr Trump himself.

— The Economist, "Less Euromaidan, more GamergateOnce considered a boon to democracy, social media have started to look like its nemesis," 4 Nov. 2017
Los Angeles Valley College in California paid $28,000 in ransom to hackers in January.

— tawnell d. hobbs, WSJ, "Hackers Target Nation’s Schools," 23 Oct. 2017
White says, on average, hackers can go undetected in a system for 200 days.

— vanityfair.com, "Is This the Next Big Sexual Harassment Story to Break?," 19 Oct. 2017
White says, on average, hackers can go undetected in a system for 200 days.

— james warren, chief media writer, The Hive, "Is This the Next Big Sexual Harassment Story to Break?," 19 Oct. 2017
Bitcoin has been used — most controversially — to buy drugs online and make virtual ransom payments to hackers.

— nathaniel popper, New York Times, "Bitcoin Bug Bites Japan and South Korea as China Clamps Down," 1 Oct. 2017
Investigations into the massive breach aren't complete, but the intruders used techniques that have been linked to nation-state hackers.

— megan hess, Bloomberg.com, "Your Evening Briefing," 29 Sep. 2017
According to the company, hackers used a website application vulnerability to access the personal information of about 143 million U.S. consumers from Equifax.

— ivana hrynkiw, AL.com, "Alabama lawyers seek to represent victims of Equifax hack," 12 Sep. 2017
Use this tool to see how many times your personal information has been exposed to hackers.

— taylor hosking, The Atlantic, "The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Florida Prepares for Irma," 8 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hacker.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of hacker

14th century

hacker Synonyms

Synonyms

cracker, cyberpunk

Antonyms

ace, adept, crackerjack (also crackajack), craftsman, expert, hand, master, past master, shark, sharp

Related Words

computerist; gearhead, geek, propeller-head, techie, technocrat, technophile; phisher

Near Antonyms

computerphobe, technophobe

Other Computer-Related Terms

adware, flash, kludge, phishing, recursive, router

HACKER Defined for English Language Learners

hacker

noun

Definition of hacker for English Language Learners

computers : a person who secretly gets access to a computer system in order to get information, cause damage, etc. : a person who hacks into a computer system
: a person who plays a sport badly