I. to ‧ ken 1 /ˈtəʊkən $ ˈtoʊ-/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: tacen , tacn 'sign, token' ]
1 . a round piece of metal that you use instead of money in some machines
2 . formal something that represents a feeling, fact, event etc
a token of your gratitude/respect/appreciation etc
Please accept this gift as a small token of our appreciation.
⇨ by the same token at ↑ same 1 (7)
3 . book/record/gift token British English a special piece of paper that you can exchange for a book, record etc in a shop SYN gift certificate American English :
a £10 book token
II. token 2 BrE AmE adjective [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.