Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

token

2 adjective
     
token2 [only before noun]
1 a token action, change etc is small and not very important, and is usually only done so that someone can pretend that they are dealing with a problem:
The government thinks it can get away with token gestures on environmental issues.
2

token woman/black etc

someone who is included in a group to make everyone think that the group has all types of people in it, when this is not really true
3 done as a first sign that an agreement, promise etc will be kept and that more will be done later:
A small token payment will keep the bank happy.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
 
Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

ADVERTISING AND MARKETINGANIMALSBANKING
BIOLOGYBUSINESS BASICSCOMPUTERS
CLOTHESDAILY LIFEEDUCATION
FINANCEFOODGRAMMAR
HAIR AND BEAUTYHUMANLAW
MUSICNATURESPORT
STOCKS AND SHARESTECHNOLOGYTRADE