interpret
Formsinterprets, interpreting, interpreted
- 1To explain or tell the meaning of something, translating it into familiar terms: whether language, dreams, signs, conduct, or mysteries.
Like a guide who reads a faded map and tells you where the path actually leads.
Scholars have long sought to interpret the symbols carved into the ancient tomb.
The analyst interpreted the sudden silence as a sign of disagreement.
Similarexplain, decipher, decode, construe, read
Note
Behind the word stands a person: Latin interpres was an agent, broker, explainer or negotiator, someone placed inter, "between". Its -pres is probably the root of pretium, "price", so the explainer and the go-between were one figure. The Bible uses the verb for both halves of the sense. Pharaoh finds none who "could interpret them unto" him, his dreams, and Matthew glosses Emmanuel, "which being interpreted is, God with us."
- 2To convey, in real time or just afterward, what a speaker or signer of one language is communicating to someone who uses a different language.
Like a live relay that passes each spoken thought across a language gap the moment it lands.
At the summit, she interpreted for the visiting delegation throughout the talks.
Court interpreters must interpret accurately, even under intense pressure.
Similartranslate
Note
Here the verb usually stands alone, with no object. Someone interprets at a meeting or for a delegation, and the words being carried across go unsaid. The sense covers signers as well as speakers. Keep it apart from translate. Interpreting happens live, on speech or signing, while translation works from fixed text that can be revised before it is delivered. It is narrower than the broader "explain" sense.
- 3To grasp the meaning of something and express it through artistic performance or representation.
Like a translator working not between languages but between a feeling and the canvas that holds it.
The pianist interprets the sonata with unusual restraint, letting the silences speak.
Great actors interpret familiar roles in ways no one expects.
- 4To decode the meaning of a subject and then act on it: by researching further, following through, pushing back, or sharing your understanding.
Like a captain who reads the weather and then sets a new course.
Good managers interpret market signals and adjust their strategy accordingly.
The committee interpreted the survey results and launched a new outreach campaign.
Similarunderstand, construe, take
- 5To execute a program by reading and carrying out its instructions as they are encountered, rather than compiling it in advance.
Like a chef who reads each step of a recipe and does it right then, instead of memorizing the whole dish first.
The runtime interprets the bytecode instruction by instruction during execution.
Early BASIC systems would interpret each line as the user typed it.
Note
A computing sense defined against its rival, compile. An interpreter reads and carries out a program's instructions one at a time as it runs, where compiling translates the whole source into machine code beforehand. The trade is raw speed for flexibility and immediate feedback. The verb takes the program or code as its object, and programmers contrast code that is interpreted with code that is compiled.
Practice
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Origin
The word passed through Middle English interpreten and Old French enterpreter from Latin interpretor ("to explain, expound, interpret"). This came from interpres ("an agent, broker, explainer, interpreter"), formed from inter ("between") plus -pres, probably the root of pretium ("price") and possibly connected with Ancient Greek phrázein ("to point out, show, explain").