token

Done as an indication or a pledge.

Adjective

  1. Done as an indication or a pledge.
  2. Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.
    • a token gesture
    • He made a token tap on the brake pedal at the stop sign.
    • If the as had been reduced to a token in 240 BC, it was now a little more token than before. - 1927, Arthur Robert Burns, Money and Monetary Policy in Early Times, page 393:
  3. Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.
    • He was hired as the company's token black person.
    • The television show was primarily directed toward a black audience, but it did have a few token white people as performers.
    • However, it should be noted that wherever ministers are opposed to mixed churches, the racial admixture is token. - 1958, Social Problems - Volume 6, page 158:

Origin

From Middle English token, taken, from Old English tācn (“sign, symbol”), from Proto-West Germanic *taikn, from Proto-Germanic *taikną (“indicator, symbol, sign”), from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, instruct, teach”) with Germanic *k rather than *h by Kluge's law. Cognate with Scots takin, taiken (“token, sign”), Saterland Frisian Teken (“sign, symbol”), West Frisian teken (“sign, mark, symbol”), Dutch teken (“sign, indication, symbol”), German Low German Teken (“sign, symbol”), German Zeichen (“sign, token”), Danish tegn (“sign, token, character”), Swedish tecken (“sign, indication”), Faroese tekn, tekin (“mark, sign, signal”), Icelandic teikn (“sign, omen”), Icelandic tákn (“symbol”). The verb is from Middle English toknen, from Old English tācnian.

Forms

more token most token

Noun

  1. Something serving as an expression of something else.
    • According to the Bible, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant with Noah.

    Synonyms: sign symbol pledge

  2. A keepsake.
    • Please accept this bustier as a token of our time together.

    Synonyms: memento souvenir

  3. A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a form of currency; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.
    • Subway tokens are being replaced by magnetic cards.
    • A book token is the easiest option for a Christmas gift.
  4. A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.
    • Everyone pick a token (hat, wheelbarrow, thimble, etc.) and place it on the Start square.
  5. A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement; a formality.
    • His apology was no more than a token.

    1. A member of a group of people that is included within a larger group to comply with a legal or social requirement.

      • New York Philharmonic has a token of one Negro. The Pittsburgh Symphony ranks high with three tokens. Cleveland has one, and other major symphony orchestras such as Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago still say, "Get...
      • Five women were tokens on both counts. Comparing racial tokens to nontokens, tokens reported significantly less favorable interpersonal interactions with their White male colleagues. - 2005, Morris Fromkin, edited by...
      • They were tokens, however: the majority of oppressed people will not experience these benefits. Tokens were used to pacify the masses and provide the mirage that racism was no longer a factor - 2013, Robert J. Durán,...
  6. Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.
  7. Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.

    Synonyms: reason reasoning

  8. An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.

    Synonyms: miracle

  9. An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.

    Synonyms: password

  10. A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.
  11. Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.
    • Say, by this token, I desire his company. - c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. - 1611, The Holy...
  12. A tally.

Forms

tokens

Related

particular universal type

Derived

abbey token access token book token bride token by that token by the same token Conder token CSRF token foretoken fungible token gift token God's token hard-times token honeytoken in token of love token milk token more betoken more by token non-fungible token non-tangible token nontoken subtoken super-token

Verb

  1. To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote
    • dorrẹ̅, dōrī adj. & n. […] Golden or reddish-yellow […] (a. 1398) *Trev. Barth. 59b/a: ʒelouʒ colour [of urine] […] tokeneþ febleness of hete […] dorrey & citrine & liʒt red tokeneþ mene. - 1398, in Hans Kurath &...
    • The instinct revolted against the inevitable punishment to come, already tokened by those big holes now met in walls and crossings. - 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 149:
    • Kant's theory of productive imagination, Schiller's aesthetics of Schein, and Hegel's loosening of the determinacy of concepts by means of the process-oriented dialectical model of rationality token a domain of...
  2. To betroth
  3. To symbolize, instantiate
    • In which sense does ‘∀p ~(p & ~p)’ cause the tokening of the belief in the subject? - 2008 August 27, Mikkel Gerken, “Is There a Simple Argument for Higher-Order Representation Theories of Awareness Consciousness?”, in...

Forms

tokens tokening tokened

Derived

betoken foretoken