entry
Pluralentries
- 1A separate item written or recorded in a list, book, or record, such as an article in a dictionary, a note in a diary or log, or a record in a database.
The dictionary's longest entry runs to several pages.
She added a new entry to the glossary for each technical term.
UsageAn entry on a topic, an entry for a word or date: an entry on spiders, the entry for cat.
Note
A reference-book word with a smaller part inside it. The headword is the label at the top, while this word names the whole article beneath it, with its definitions and examples. The two are sometimes used interchangeably.
- 2The act of coming into or going inside a place.
His sudden entry interrupted the meeting.
The crowd cheered the champion's entry into the arena.
UsageUsually entry into a place: her entry into the room. For a showy arrival, English says make an entrance.
Similarentrance, arrival, appearance
- 3Something submitted to be judged in a competition, or a person or team competing in one.
Each entry must reach the judges by March 1, and only one story per writer is allowed.
The tournament draw lists sixty-four entries, including last year's champion.
UsageUsually an entry in or for a contest. You submit or send in your entry.
Similarsubmission, entrant, competitor
- 4The act of becoming part of something or beginning to take part in it, whether an organization, a market, a profession or a war.
The startup's entry into the crowded smartphone market surprised most analysts.
High training costs remain a barrier to entry for many would-be pilots.
UsageUsually entry into something: entry into the market, entry into the war. A set phrase: barrier to entry.
Similaradmission
Oppositeexit, withdrawal
- 5Permission or the right to go into a place or event.
Entry to the festival requires a valid wristband.
The club denied entry to anyone under eighteen.
UsageWithout a: refused entry, gain entry, no entry. Entry to the place, for the people: no entry for minors.
Similaradmission, access, entrance, admittance
- 6
- 7The act or work of recording information in a register, a document or a computer system.
The clinic hired two temps to handle data entry while it switched to a new billing system.
Manual entry of the weekly sales figures took the clerk most of the afternoon.
UsageMostly in data entry and manual entry, with no a in this sense.
- 8A small room immediately inside the front door of a building, often leading to a stairway and other rooms.
The narrow entry opened onto a steep staircase.
We left our wet boots in the entry and hung our coats on the hooks beside the stairs.
Similarhall, hallway, foyer, vestibule, lobby
Note
Here the word names a space rather than an opening. It is the small room you stand in once you are through the doorway, often with the stairs rising from it and other rooms leading off. Keep it apart from the passage between terraced houses, which leads round to a back yard instead of into the house.
Less common meanings
- 9The point at which a musician or singer begins to play or sing.
The cellist's entry in the second movement was perfectly timed.
A nervous trumpeter rushed his entry during the concert.
Similarentrance
Note
Each part in an ensemble has its own entry, and placing it exactly is much of what rehearsal is for. A rushed or late entry is heard at once. Entrance is also a standard word for this moment in music.
- 10A single value occupying a specific position within a matrix or grid of numbers.
Each entry along the diagonal of the matrix equals one.
She corrected a single entry and recomputed the determinant.
Similarelement
Note
Linear algebra locates each value by row first, then column. If the value in the second row and first column of a matrix is 6, that 6 is one entry, written a₂₁ in the usual aᵢⱼ notation. Mathematicians describe a whole matrix by its positions in the same way, speaking of its diagonal entries or its nonzero entries.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Matrix indices conventionally specify the row first and the column second. homepages.ucl.ac.uk
- Under aᵢⱼ notation, a value of 6 in row two, column one is the entry a₂₁. math.purdue.edu
- Matrices are described using terms such as diagonal entries and nonzero entries. en.wikipedia.org
- 11The act of going onto property in order to take legal possession of it.
The landlord's lawful entry ended the tenant's claim to the property.
Peaceful entry onto the disputed parcel established the heir's possession.
Note
In legal writing, the word names a physical step with legal effect: going onto land in order to take possession of it, not merely walking in. The same idea sits behind re-entry, where an owner reclaims property. In a legal document, entry signals that possession is being asserted, and the act matters because of what it establishes, not because someone crossed a threshold.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Entry onto land can be a formal act asserting and taking possession. oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com
- Legal re-entry involves reclaiming possession of property. en.wiktionary.org
- The legal significance of this entry is its effect on possession. oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com
- 12The point at which an insurance contract begins and coverage takes effect.
Treatment for any condition that began before your date of entry may not be covered by the plan.
Because her entry into the plan was only two weeks earlier, the waiting period for minor surgery still applied.
Note
Insurance has its own vocabulary of beginnings, and here the word marks the date a policy takes effect. From this point the insurer generally carries the risk. The date is normally stated in the policy, and it is not the act of entering a place. Conditions that began before it may not be covered.
- 13A narrow passageway between houses that leads to a back yard or garden.
A cat darted down the narrow entry between the two terraced houses.
They reached the backyard through a shared entry between the homes.
Similarpassage, passageway, alley, alleyway
Note
A regional use from the Midlands, where entry names the narrow passage that runs between terraced houses to the yards behind them. Listeners from outside the region are more likely to hear a doorway into a building. When writing for a wider audience, it helps to add passage or alley so the meaning is clear.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The passageway sense is regional to the Midlands and describes access between terraced houses to a rear garden or yard. en.wiktionary.org
- 14The presenting of a ship's papers and cargo account to customs officials in order to obtain permission to land its goods.
- 15The introduction of young hounds into an established hunting pack.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of entry apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Ultimately from Latin "intrō." Old French had "entree," the feminine past participle of the verb "entrer" (Modern French "entrée"); it passed into Middle English as "entre," and English inherited it from there. Its doublets are "entrada" and "entrée."