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index

Pronunciation: /ˈɪndɛks/

The English word “index” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An alphabetical listing of items and their location.
  2. The index finger; the forefinger.
  3. A movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc.
  4. A symbol resembling a pointing hand, used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph.
  5. That which points out; that which shows, indicates, manifests, or discloses.
  6. A sign; an indication; a token.
  7. A type of noun where the meaning of the form changes with respect to the context; e.g., 'Today's newspaper' is an indexical form since its referent will differ depending on the context. See also icon and symbol.
  8. A single number calculated from an array of prices or of quantities.
  9. A number representing a property or ratio; a coefficient.
  10. A raised suffix indicating a power.
  11. An integer or other key indicating the location of data, e.g. within an array, vector, database table, associative array, or hash table.
  12. A data structure that improves the performance of operations on a table.
  13. The number of cosets that exist.
  14. A prologue indicating what follows.

verb

  1. To arrange an index for something, especially a long text.
  2. To inventory; to take stock.
  3. To normalise in order to account for inflation; to correct for inflation by linking to a price index in order to maintain real levels.
  4. To measure by an associated value.
  5. To be indexical for (some situation or state of affairs); to indicate.
  6. To access a value in a data container by an index.

Etymology

From Latin index (“a discoverer, informer, spy; of things, an indicator, the forefinger, a title, superscription”), from indicō (“point out, show”); see indicate.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.