Word.ws English Dictionary

ALGOL

/ˈælɡɒl/

ALGOL proper noun: an influential early high-level programming language designed for solving mathematical and scientific problems.

Proper noun (1)

ALGOL

  1. An influential early high-level programming language designed for solving mathematical and scientific problems.
    • Later, ALGOL was used as the basis of JOVIAL, MAD, NELIAC, and ALGO. In 1960, a division occurred based on unresolved disagreements and ALGOL 60 was born.2007, April J. Wells, Grid Application Systems Design, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 17
    Synonyms:
    IAL
  2. A family of programming languages derived from ALGOL 58.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Algol

Algol

  1. An eclipsing binary star in the constellation of Perseus; Beta (β) Persei. It represents the eye of Medusa, whose head is being held by Perseus.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Algol

Algol

  1. Alternative letter-case form of ALGOL.
    • He was the defiant homesteader, the crusty senior member of a research team who understood Algol and Fortran but couldn't read the secrets of his own heart.1972, Thomas M. Disch, 334
    • Algol, on the other hand, introduced the notion of block structure, in which the programmer could group lists of statements, effectively creating one instruction out of a list of instructions.2004, Edward G. Nilges, Build Your Own .NET Language and Compiler, Apress, →ISBN, page 2

Synonyms of ALGOL

Forms of ALGOL

alternative formAlgol

Origin of ALGOL

Devised as an acronym of algorithmic language.

From Arabic الْغُول (al-ḡūl, “the ghoul”).

Words formed from ALGOL

Questions about ALGOL

What does ALGOL mean?
ALGOL means an influential early high-level programming language designed for solving mathematical and scientific problems.
What part of speech is ALGOL?
ALGOL is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ALGOL?
ALGOL is pronounced /ˈælɡɒl/.

Words near ALGOL in the dictionary

  1. algofunctional
  2. algogenic
  3. algogenicity
  4. algogenous
  5. algoid
  6. ALGOL
  7. Algol variable
  8. algolagnia
  9. algolagniac
  10. algolagniacs
  11. algolagnic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ALGOL (page history and authors); Algol (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Izdeb04hw-ALGOL.wav.

Cite this entry: “ALGOL.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/algol. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.