Okuzeka
Web Development vocabulary · Web Security

Authentication

Meaning in web development, with examples

/ɔːˌθentɪˈkeɪʃən/nounCore term

In web development, authentication means: The process of checking who a user is, for example with a password, a one-time code or a login through a Google or Apple account.

In Turkish: kimlik doğrulama

How it is used

Often shortened to auth. Teams add, implement or outsource authentication, and talk about two-factor authentication (2FA), single sign-on (SSO), tokens and OAuth.

Example sentences

  1. Authentication works, but every user can still see the admin page.

  2. We added two-factor authentication to the admin panel.

Common collocations

  • two-factor authentication
  • user authentication
  • authentication flow
  • token-based authentication
  • sessionThe period during which a server remembers a logged-in user, usually through an ID stored in a cookie, until the user logs out or the session expires.
  • cookieA small piece of data that a website stores in the browser and that is sent back with later requests, used for logins, settings and tracking.
  • hashTo turn data such as a password into a fixed-length string with a one-way function, so that the original value cannot be read back from it.
  • HTTPSThe secure version of HTTP, which encrypts the connection between the browser and the server with TLS so that others cannot read or change the data.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Web Security

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: