skeleton key
noun
: a key with a large part of the bit filed away to enable it to open low quality locks as a master key
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Some people might have a favorite, go-to password, but that's essentially a skeleton key that opens up all private access points. 
Chris Nicoli, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2022 It’s the difference between cracking safety deposit boxes one at a time and stealing the bank manager’s skeleton key. Brian Barrett, Wired, 2 July 2021 The peripheral Proust may persist as part of our search for a skeleton key to all the others—a way inside. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021 This conversation, which takes place early in the novel, feels like a skeleton key to everything that happens after it. Jenny Offill, The New York Review of Books, 3 Nov. 2020 Along with serving as mayor — and getting a skeleton key to the city — residents can enjoy local hiking trails, eat at the Hell Hole Diner, play mini-golf and enjoy traditional Halloween activities like carving pumpkins. Slone Terranella, Detroit Free Press, 30 Sep. 2020 In 2015, Symantec found that Winnti also appeared to be using skeleton key injection attacks like the kind CyCraft found used against the Taiwanese semiconductor companies. Andy Greenberg, Wired, 6 Aug. 2020 Moss is The Invisible Man’s skeleton key, the means to opening its every door. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 28 Feb. 2020 Pable told his supervisor, Michael Haynes, who decided to test the skeleton key by issuing an alert on the Regional Transit Authority for Dayton, Ohio, which also had BusTime, the lawsuit alleges. Mary Wisniewski, chicagotribune.com, 4 Dec. 2019 See More
Chris Nicoli, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2022 It’s the difference between cracking safety deposit boxes one at a time and stealing the bank manager’s skeleton key. Brian Barrett, Wired, 2 July 2021 The peripheral Proust may persist as part of our search for a skeleton key to all the others—a way inside. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021 This conversation, which takes place early in the novel, feels like a skeleton key to everything that happens after it. Jenny Offill, The New York Review of Books, 3 Nov. 2020 Along with serving as mayor — and getting a skeleton key to the city — residents can enjoy local hiking trails, eat at the Hell Hole Diner, play mini-golf and enjoy traditional Halloween activities like carving pumpkins. Slone Terranella, Detroit Free Press, 30 Sep. 2020 In 2015, Symantec found that Winnti also appeared to be using skeleton key injection attacks like the kind CyCraft found used against the Taiwanese semiconductor companies. Andy Greenberg, Wired, 6 Aug. 2020 Moss is The Invisible Man’s skeleton key, the means to opening its every door. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 28 Feb. 2020 Pable told his supervisor, Michael Haynes, who decided to test the skeleton key by issuing an alert on the Regional Transit Authority for Dayton, Ohio, which also had BusTime, the lawsuit alleges. Mary Wisniewski, chicagotribune.com, 4 Dec. 2019 See More Word History
First Known Use
1810, in the meaning defined above