Link Centre Dictionary

interpret

in·terp·ret

UK/ɪnˈtɜː.pɹɪt/ US/ɪnˈtɝ.pɹɪt/ fairly common

verb

1.

make sense of; assign a meaning to

  • “What message do you see in this letter?”
  • “How do you interpret his behavior?”
Synonyms
2.
3.

give an interpretation or rendition of

  • “The pianist rendered the Beethoven sonata beautifully”
Synonyms
4.

create an image or likeness of

  • “The painter represented his wife as a young girl”
Synonyms
5.

restate (words) from one language into another language

  • “I have to translate when my in-laws from Austria visit the U.S.”
  • “Can you interpret the speech of the visiting dignitaries?”
  • “She rendered the French poem into English”
  • “He translates for the U.N.”
Synonyms
6.

make sense of a language

  • “She understands French”
  • “Can you read Greek?”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English interpreten, from Old French enterpreter, (French interpréter), from Latin interpretor (“to explain, expound, interpret”), past participle interpretatus, from interpres (“an agent, broker, explainer, interpreter, negotiator”), from inter (“between”) + -pres, probably the root of pretium (“price”); -pres is probably connected with Ancient Greek φράζειν (phrázein, “to point out, show, explain, declare, speak”), from which φραδή (phradḗ, “understanding”), φράσις (phrásis, “speech”); see phrase.

Phrases

  • interpret away

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Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.