cyber
Formscybers, cybering, cybered
- 1Having to do with the internet; the prefix cyber- used as a word of its own.
The agency is hiring analysts to strengthen the country's cyber defenses.
Officials warned that the dispute could spill over into cyber warfare.
Note
The prefix cut loose: cyber- began as the front of cybernetics and then went out on its own as a word. Written open before a noun, as in cyber capability or a cyber way, it does the work the prefix does when closed up in cybersecurity. It does not compare, so nothing is more cyber than anything else.
- 2Cybersecurity, the field concerned with protecting computers, networks, and data from attack.
The bank hired a new head of cyber after the data breach.
Hospital budgets for cyber have grown as ransomware attacks have become more common.
- 3The internet and everything connected with it, taken together as a whole.
Lawmakers are still working out how to regulate the cyber.
The cyber has reshaped how news reaches people and how quickly it spreads.
Similarinternet
Note
The noun is singular only and nearly always takes the, the way the internet does: the cyber is transforming our world, what the cyber will deliver. Without the article the word usually reads as the security field instead, as in an escalatory ladder in cyber.
- 4Cybergoth; belonging to the subculture and style that blend goth fashion with futuristic, high-tech elements.
His cyber outfit combined black vinyl, neon tubing, and welding goggles.
The shop sells goth and cyber clothing to teenagers from all over the city.
Note
This clipping of cybergoth turns up in lists of scenes and styles, beside goth, punk and metal: goth and cyber subcultures, cyber wear. Context does the sorting. In a sentence about fashion or music it means this look, platform boots and all, not the internet adjective.
Less common meaning
- 5To engage in cybersex, exchanging sexual messages with someone online.
Half the users in that chat room seemed to want to cyber rather than talk about music.
She admitted she had cybered with a stranger from a gaming forum.
Note
The verb comes from the chat-room era and now sounds dated: "Wanna cyber?" was the whole proposition. It takes no object, so the partner comes in with with, as in cybered with a stranger, and its forms are regular: cybers, cybering, cybered. Outside very casual talk it suits only writing about early online life.
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Practice
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Origin
Originally taken from cybernetics, before becoming a stand-alone word.