application programming interface

noun

variants or less commonly application program interface
computing
: a set of rules that allows programmers to develop software for a particular operating system without having to be completely familiar with that operating system
To fix this problem, trustbusters have installed a provision forcing Microsoft to disclose more information about its so-called application programming interfaces, or APIs.Business Week
abbreviation API

Examples of application programming interface in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Then, in January 2023, a misconfigured application programming interface exposed personal data for 37 million current customers, marking yet another significant security lapse. Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 18 Nov. 2024 Previously, scientists could access a treasure trove of data shared through Twitter’s application programming interface, enabling researchers like Pierri to routinely collect millions of tweets a day for their studies. Bykai Kupferschmidt, science.org, 31 Oct. 2024 More importantly, developers will also inevitably leave a paper trail of credentials, application programming interface tokens and passkeys embedded in their code, which can remain exposed for years, even after deletion. Adrian Bridgwater, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024 The tasks would extend to doing likewise about various infrastructure that supports the code, including assorted programming utilities, tools, operating system facets, API or application programming interfaces, and so on. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for application programming interface 

Word History

First Known Use

1968, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of application programming interface was in 1968

Dictionary Entries Near application programming interface

Cite this Entry

“Application programming interface.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/application%20programming%20interface. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

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