Key vs. Island — What's the Difference?

Limited in size, often making development and habitation challenging.

A piece of land surrounded by water, not connected to a mainland.

Popular tourist destinations due to their natural beauty and unique geological characteristics.

Capable of supporting large populations and complex societies.

A small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of a coral reef.

Can be formed through various geological processes, including volcanic activity.

Typically found in warm waters and has a stable but delicate ecosystem.

Offers a variety of landscapes from beaches to mountains.

Vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels and increased storm frequency.

Often has a diverse ecosystem, depending on its size and geographical location.

A notched and grooved, usually metal implement that is turned to open or close a lock.

An island or isle is any piece of subcontinental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys.

A similar implement or an electronic device used for opening, winding, or starting something

Abbr. Isl. or Is. or I. A landmass, especially one smaller than a continent, entirely surrounded by water.

A device, such as a wedge or pin, inserted to lock together mechanical or structural parts.

An unattached kitchen counter providing easy access from all sides.

A keycard.

A raised curbed area, often used to delineate rows of parking spaces or lanes of traffic.

A determining factor in accomplishing or achieving something

The superstructure of a ship, especially an aircraft carrier.

Something that provides access to or understanding of something else

(Anatomy) A cluster of cells differing in structure or function from the cells constituting the surrounding tissue.

A set of answers to a test.

To make into or as if into an island; insulate

A table, gloss, or cipher containing correspondences, as for decoding or interpreting something.

A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water.

(Computers) A number used by a cryptographic algorithm to encrypt or decrypt data.

(by extension, in place names) A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, partially surrounded by water; A peninsula; A half-island.

(Architecture) The keystone in the crown of an arch.

An entity surrounded by other entities that are very different from itself.

A button or lever that is depressed to operate a machine.

A superstructure on an aircraft carrier's deck.

A button that is depressed to cause a corresponding character or function to be typed or executed by a typewriter or to be accepted as input by a computer.

A traffic island.

(Music) A button or lever that is depressed with the finger to produce or modulate the sound of an instrument, such as a clarinet or piano.

(by extension, West Midlands dialect) A roundabout; A traffic circle.

A tonal system consisting of seven tones in fixed relationship to a tonic, having a characteristic key signature and being the structural foundation of the bulk of Western music; tonality.

A bench, counter, etc., that is not connected to a wall or other furniture and which can be used from any side.

The principal tonality of a work

(government) An unincorporated area wholly surrounded by one or more incorporated areas.

The pitch of a voice or other sound.

(grammar) A phrase from which a wh-word cannot be extracted without yielding invalid grammar.

A characteristic tone or level of intensity, as of a speech or sales campaign. Often used in combination

(transitive) To surround with water; make into an island.

(Botany) A samara.

(transitive) To set, dot (as if) with islands.

An outline of the distinguishing characteristics of a group of organisms, used as a guide in taxonomic identification.

(transitive) To isolate.

(Basketball) An area at each end of the court between the baseline and the foul line and including the jump-ball circle at the foul line

A tract of land surrounded by water, and smaller than a continent. Cf. Continent.

The act of replacing portions of a video or photograph containing a preselected color with material from a separate image, as by chroma key.

Anything regarded as resembling an island; as, an island of ice.

A low offshore island or reef, especially in the Gulf of Mexico; a cay.

To cause to become or to resemble an island; to make an island or islands of; to isle.

A kilogram of marijuana, cocaine, or heroin.

To furnish with an island or with islands; as, to island the deep.

Of crucial importance; significant

A land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water

To lock with a key.

A zone or area resembling an island

To be the determining or crucial factor in

(Architecture) To furnish (an arch) with a keystone.

(Music) To regulate the pitch of.

To bring into harmony; adjust or adapt

To cause to pay attention to

To supply with a key of correspondences or with corresponding references

To operate (a device), as for typesetting, by means of a keyboard.

To enter (data) into a computer by means of a keyboard.

To identify (a biological specimen).

To vandalize or mar by scratching with a key

To produce, replace, or include by chroma key.

To pay close attention; focus

(Sports) To watch or cover an opposing player closely in an effort to limit the player's effectiveness. Used with on

To replace portions of a video or photograph containing a preselected color with material from a separate image, as by chroma key.

An object designed to open and close a lock.

An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.

A crucial step or requirement.

A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.

A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.

(computing) One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.

(music)

In musical instruments, one of the valve levers used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.

In instruments with a keyboard such as an organ or piano, one of the levers, or especially the exposed front end of it, which are depressed to cause a particular sound or note to be produced.

(music) A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.

The lowest note of a scale; keynote.

In musical theory, the total melodic and harmonic relations, which exist between the tones of an ideal scale, major or minor; tonality.

In musical theory and notation, the tonality centering in a given tone, or the several tones taken collectively, of a given scale, major or minor.

In musical notation, a sign at the head of a staff indicating the musical key.

(figurative) The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.

(advertising) A modification of an advertisement so as to target a particular group or demographic.

(botany) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.

(historical) A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.

(cryptography) A piece of information (e.g., a password or passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.

(internet) A password restricting access to an IRC channel.

(databases) In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).

(computing) A value that uniquely identifies an entry in a container.

(basketball) The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.

(biology) A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.

(architecture) A piece of wood used as a wedge.

(architecture) The last board of a floor when laid down.

(masonry) A keystone.

That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.

(rail transport) A wooden support for a rail on the bullhead rail system.

The degree of roughness, or retention ability of a surface to have applied a liquid such as paint, or glue.

(cartomancy) The thirty-third card of the Lenormand deck.

(print and film) The black ink layer, especially in relation to the three color layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. See also CMYK.

A color to be masked or made transparent.

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One of a string of small islands.

(slang) kilogram (especially of a recreational drug)

Indispensable, supremely important.

Important, salient.

To fit (a lock) with a key.

To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.

To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.

(telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).

(radio) To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).

(computing) (more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.

(colloquial) To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.

To link (as one might do with a key or legend).

To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.

To modify (an advertisement) so as to target a particular group or demographic.

To attune to; to set at; to pitch.

To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.

To prepare for plastering by adding the key that part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.

An instrument by means of which the bolt of a lock is shot or drawn; usually, a removable metal instrument fitted to the mechanism of a particular lock and operated by turning in its place.

A small device which is inserted into a mechanism and turned like a key to fasten, adjust, or wind it; as, a watch key; a bed key; the winding key for a clock, etc.

One of a set of small movable parts on an instrument or machine which, by being depressed, serves as the means of operating it; the complete set of keys is usually called the keyboard; as, the keys of a piano, an organ, an accordion, a computer keyboard, or of a typewriter. The keys may operate parts of the instrument by a mechanical action, as on a piano, or by closing an electrical circuit, as on a computer keyboard. See also senses 12 and 13.

A position or condition which affords entrance, control, pr possession, etc.; as, the key of a line of defense; the key of a country; the key of a political situation.

That part of a mechanism which serves to lock up, make fast, or adjust to position.

A piece of wood used as a wedge.

A keystone.

A wedge to unite two or more pieces, or adjust their relative position; a cotter; a forelock.

An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; - called also key fruit.

A family of tones whose regular members are called diatonic tones, and named key tone (or tonic) or one (or eight), mediant or three, dominant or five, subdominant or four, submediant or six, supertonic or two, and subtonic or seven. Chromatic tones are temporary members of a key, under such names as " sharp four," "flat seven," etc. Scales and tunes of every variety are made from the tones of a key.

Fig: The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.

A metallic lever by which the circuit of the sending or transmitting part of a station equipment may be easily and rapidly opened and closed; as, a telegraph key.

Any device for closing or opening an electric circuit, especially as part of a keyboard, as that used at a computer terminal or teletype terminal.

A simplified version or analysis which accompanies something as a clue to its explanation, a book or table containing the solutions to problems, ciphers, allegories, or the like;

A word or other combination of symbols which serves as an index identifying and pointing to a particular record, file, or location which can be retrieved and displayed by a computer program; as, a database using multi-word keys. When the key is a word, it is also called a keyword.

To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.

To enter (text, data) using keys, especially those on a keyboard; to keyboard; as, to key the data in by hand.

To adjust so as to be maximally effective in a particular situation; - of actions, plans, or speech; as, to key one's campaign speech to each local audience.

To furnish with a key or keys.

Essential; most important; as, the key fact in the inquiry; the president was the key player inthe negotiations.

Metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock's mechanism can be rotated

Something crucial for explaining;

Pitch of the voice;

Any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music

A kilogram of a narcotic drug;

A winged often one-seed indehiscent fruit as of the ash or elm or maple

United States lawyer and poet who wrote a poem after witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812; the poem was later set to music and entitled `The Star-Spangled Banner' (1779-1843)

A coral reef off the southern coast of Florida

(basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court;

A list of answers to a test;

A list of words or phrases that explain symbols or abbreviations

A generic term for any device whose possession entitles the holder to a means of access;

Mechanical device used to wind another device that is driven by a spring (as a clock)

The central building block at the top of an arch or vault

A lever that actuates a mechanism when depressed

Identify as in botany or biology, for example

Provide with a key;

Vandalize a car by scratching the sides with a key;

Regulate the musical pitch of

Harmonize with or adjust to;

Serving as an essential component;

Effective; producing a desired effect;

While possible, living on a key often comes with challenges due to limited space and resources.

Not necessarily, but islands generally have a broader range in size and can be much larger than keys.

A key is a small, sandy island formed on a coral reef, typically in tropical oceans.

Sparse, adapted to sandy soil and saline conditions, typically mangroves and seagrass.

Climate change, especially rising sea levels and storm surges, poses significant risks.

Islands can be formed by volcanic activity, sediment buildup, or earth crust movements.

They provide crucial habitats for marine life and birds, particularly in coral reef ecosystems.

Yes, islands can significantly influence local and regional weather patterns through their land-sea interactions.

Depends on the island's climate and location; can range from polar bears to tropical parrots.

Agriculture on keys is limited due to sandy soil and lack of freshwater resources.

Yes, but investing in keys carries risks due to their environmental vulnerabilities and regulatory restrictions.

Islands can be centers for tourism, agriculture, and in some cases, technology and finance.

Keys are particularly vulnerable to hurricanes due to their low elevation and exposed locations.

Many islands have unique cultures, shaped by isolation and their specific historical contexts.

Keys are specifically sandy islands on coral reefs, unlike volcanic or continental islands.