Which statement correctly describes the `raise` keyword?

The statement that is correct about the raise keyword is that it is used to trigger an exception. In Python, the raise statement specifically allows you to raise an exception intentionally. This is often done when you want to indicate that an error has occurred in a certain part of your program. By using raise, you can specify the type of exception to be raised, such as ValueError, TypeError, or custom exception classes you’ve defined.

Raising exceptions is crucial for error handling in Python. By doing this, you signal that the normal flow of execution should be interrupted and that the control should be passed to an error handling construct like a try and except block, where you can manage the exception gracefully. This mechanism helps in building robust applications that can handle unexpected situations without crashing.

The other options describe concepts that are not accurate in relation to the functionality of the raise keyword. For instance, initializing a new object relates to class instantiation, starting a loop for exception handling is related to the try...except structure, and defining a function to handle errors pertains to function definitions and not to the raise keyword itself.