Word.ws English Dictionary

latchkey

US/ˈlæt͡ʃˌki/

latchkey noun: a key, especially to an outside door. Also the ellipsis of latchkey kid.

Noun (1)

latchkey (plural latchkeys)

  1. A key, especially to an outside door.
    Synonyms:
    check key

Adjective

latchkey (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to unsupervised children in afterschool care contexts.
    • In fashionable Potomac, for instance, almost 50 percent of the nonparental care was latchkey.1985, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Departments of Labor, Health...
    • Be available as a "safety net" for the parents, especially if both parents work and/or the child is latchkey.1994, Irene Endicott, Grandparenting by Grace: A Guide Through the Joys and Struggles, →ISBN

Verb

latchkey (third-person singular simple present latchkeys, present participle latchkeying, simple past and past participle latchkeyed)

  1. (transitive) To open something by means of a latchkey.

Noun (2) capitalized: Latchkey

Latchkey (uncountable)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of latchkey; especially when referring to a latchkey program.

Also used as

latchkey is also the ellipsis of latchkey kid.

latchkey is also the ellipsis of latchkey program.

Synonyms of latchkey

Forms of latchkey

Noun
plurallatchkeys
alternative formlatch key
alternative formlatch-key
Verb
third-person singular presentlatchkeys
present participlelatchkeying
past participlelatchkeyed
pastlatchkeyed

Origin of latchkey

From latch + key.

Words formed from latchkey

Phrases with latchkey

Questions about latchkey

What does latchkey mean?
Latchkey means a key, especially to an outside door.
What part of speech is latchkey?
Latchkey can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce latchkey?
Latchkey is pronounced /ˈlæt͡ʃˌki/ (US).
What is the plural of latchkey?
The plural of latchkey is latchkeys.

Words near latchkey in the dictionary

  1. latching
  2. latching on
  3. latching onto
  4. Latchingdon
  5. latchings
  6. latchkey
  7. latchkey child
  8. latchkey children
  9. latchkey kid
  10. latchkey kids
  11. latchkey program

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: latchkey (page history and authors); Latchkey (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:

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