dictionary attack

A type of brute force method for uncovering passwords and decryption keys. It sorts common words by frequency of use and starts with the most likely possibilities; for example, names of people, sports teams, pets and cars. For greater security, users should not use passwords that could be found in an ordinary dictionary. While a dictionary attack can be done manually by an individual, it is easily done via software and a database with millions of words. See brute force attack and Captcha.