"dangling pointer" meaning in All languages combined

See dangling pointer on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: dangling pointers [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} dangling pointer (plural dangling pointers)
  1. (programming, loosely) A pointer (variable that holds the address of a memory location) that does not reference a valid object. Tags: broadly Synonyms: wild pointer Translations (pointer that does not reference a valid object): ponteiro pendente [masculine] (Portuguese)
    Sense id: en-dangling_pointer-en-noun-dY3RbzGy Categories (other): Programming Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, programming, sciences Disambiguation of 'pointer that does not reference a valid object': 68 32
  2. (programming, strictly) A pointer referencing memory that was previously deallocated.
    Sense id: en-dangling_pointer-en-noun-P429TEmN Categories (other): Programming, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Portuguese translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 44 56 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 34 66 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 33 67 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 31 69 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, programming, sciences

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dangling pointers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dangling pointer (plural dangling pointers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Programming",
          "orig": "en:Programming",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A pointer (variable that holds the address of a memory location) that does not reference a valid object."
      ],
      "id": "en-dangling_pointer-en-noun-dY3RbzGy",
      "links": [
        [
          "programming",
          "programming#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pointer",
          "pointer"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(programming, loosely) A pointer (variable that holds the address of a memory location) that does not reference a valid object."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wild pointer"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "programming",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "68 32",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "pointer that does not reference a valid object",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ponteiro pendente"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Programming",
          "orig": "en:Programming",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "44 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "33 67",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 70",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A pointer referencing memory that was previously deallocated."
      ],
      "id": "en-dangling_pointer-en-noun-P429TEmN",
      "links": [
        [
          "programming",
          "programming#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "deallocate",
          "deallocate"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "strictly",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(programming, strictly) A pointer referencing memory that was previously deallocated."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "programming",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "dangling pointer"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dangling pointers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dangling pointer (plural dangling pointers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Programming"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A pointer (variable that holds the address of a memory location) that does not reference a valid object."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "programming",
          "programming#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pointer",
          "pointer"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(programming, loosely) A pointer (variable that holds the address of a memory location) that does not reference a valid object."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wild pointer"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "programming",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Programming"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A pointer referencing memory that was previously deallocated."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "programming",
          "programming#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "deallocate",
          "deallocate"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "strictly",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(programming, strictly) A pointer referencing memory that was previously deallocated."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "programming",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "pointer that does not reference a valid object",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ponteiro pendente"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dangling pointer"
}

Download raw JSONL data for dangling pointer meaning in All languages combined (1.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-14 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 59dc20b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.