cryptanalyst
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˌkrɪp.təˈnæl.ɪst/
- Specialized
:
criptanalista
- This American diplomatic victory was achieved with the help of the charismatic cryptanalyst Herbert O. Yardley and his assistants, whose solution of coded Japanese diplomatic messages told American negotiators just how far they could push the Japanese.
- cryptanalysts intercepted
- cryptanalyst who deciphered codes
Examples
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The cryptanalysts' work consisted of matching proposed plaintext—a guess as to the text of the original message—against the text of the cryptograms.
Academic text (1991) -
Because the Great Cipher utilized a new method, cryptanalysts found it very difficult to solve.
Blog text (21) -
My mother had been a cryptanalyst at the Army Security Agency and NSA in World War ll.
-
The army cryptanalysts reconstructed the machine and named it RED.
Academic text (1991) -
Most mornings, he held a conference with the other cryptanalysts.
Academic text (1991) -
As cryptanalysts, they had much more insight when creating the Great Cipher.
Blog text (21) -
Safford also hired a brilliant, 32-year-old woman who proved to be an outstanding cryptanalyst.
Academic text (1991) -
Cryptanalysts rely on past information in order to solve a cipher.
Blog text (21) -
Then on September 20, cryptanalyst Genevieve Grotjan spotted a particular pattern among the letters she was scrutinizing.
Academic text (1991) -
During the war, a skilled cryptanalyst helped decode enemy messages to protect our troops.
Synonyms
1
9.6
A person who studies and breaks secret codes
1
4.6
A person, machine, or program that finds the meaning of secret messages
A person who reads and understands secret or hard-to-read writing
How Skilled
292
4.2
3
3.5
- Specialized
1
9.9
120
4.0
81
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
cryptanalyst = cryptanalysis (transparent) = crypt + analysis + ist
The agentive suffix '-ist' is added to 'cryptanalysis' to denote a person who performs cryptanalysis, a regular and transparent derivation.
Etymology
Cryptanalyst comes from the parts crypt- meaning 'hidden', as in cryptic, and analyst, from 'analyze' meaning 'to break into parts'. So a cryptanalyst is like a detective who breaks apart hidden messages to read them.