Word.ws English Dictionary

key on

key on verb: to anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s).

Verb

key on (third-person singular simple present keys on, present participle keying on, simple past and past participle keyed on)

  1. To anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s).
  2. (informal) To instruct or make (someone) aware of (something).
    • She keyed me on to the plan.

Forms of key on

third-person singular presentkeys on
present participlekeying on
past participlekeyed on
pastkeyed on

Questions about key on

What does key on mean?
Key on means to anticipate a play by watching and analyzing the movements of one's opponent(s).
What part of speech is key on?
Key on is a verb.
What is the past tense of key on?
The past tense of key on is keyed on.

Words near key on in the dictionary

  1. key money
  2. key of the door
  3. Key of the Mediterranean
  4. key of the street
  5. key off
  6. key on
  7. key out
  8. key pad
  9. key pads
  10. key pair
  11. key pairs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: key on (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.

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