descriptor

US: (di skrip′tər)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

de•scrip•tor  (di skrip′tər), n. 

1. Computing a significant word or phrase used to categorize or describe text or other material, esp. when indexing or in an information retrieval system.
2. [Computers.] a data item that stores the attributes of some other datum:
   a task descriptor.

• describe + -tor, with vowel change and devoicing by analogy with similar Latin derivatives 1930–35, for an earlier sense