interpret
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in·ter·pret
(ĭn-tûr′prĭt)v. in·ter·pret·ed, in·ter·pret·ing, in·ter·prets
v.tr.
1. To explain the meaning of: The newspapers interpreted the ambassador's speech as an attempt at making peace. See Synonyms at explain.
2. To understand the significance of; construe: interpreted his smile to be an agreement; interpreted the open door as an invitation.
3. To present or conceptualize the meaning of by means of art or criticism: The actor interpreted the character with great subtlety.
4. To translate from one language into another: interpreted the ambassador's remarks for the assembly.
v.intr.
To serve as an interpreter for speakers of different languages.
[Middle English interpreten, from Old French interpreter, from Latin interpretārī, from interpres, interpret-, negotiator, explainer; see per- in Indo-European roots.]
in·ter′pret·a·bil′i·ty, in·ter′pret·a·ble·ness n.
in·ter′pret·a·ble adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
interpret
(ɪnˈtɜːprɪt)vb
1. (tr) to clarify or explain the meaning of; elucidate
2. (tr) to construe the significance or intention of: to interpret a smile as an invitation.
3. (tr) to convey or represent the spirit or meaning of (a poem, song, etc) in performance
4. (intr) to act as an interpreter; translate orally
[C14: from Latin interpretārī, from interpres negotiator, one who explains, from inter- + -pres, probably related to pretium price]
inˈterpretable adj
inˌterpretaˈbility, inˈterpretableness n
inˈterpretably adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
in•ter•pret
(ɪnˈtɜr prɪt)v.t.
1. to give or provide the meaning of; explain; elucidate: to interpret a parable.
2. to construe or understand in a particular way: to interpret a reply as favorable.
3. to translate orally.
4. to bring out the meaning of (a dramatic work, music, etc.) by performance or execution.
5. to perform (a song, role in a play, etc.) according to one's own understanding or sensitivity.
v.i. 6. to translate what is said in a foreign language.
7. to explain something; give an explanation.
[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin interpretārī, derivative of interpres, s. interpret- agent, spokesperson, interpreter]
in•ter′pret•a•ble, adj.
in•ter`pret•a•bil′i•ty, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
interpret
Past participle: interpreted
Gerund: interpreting
| Imperative |
|---|
| interpret |
| interpret |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
| Verb | 1. | interpret - make sense of; assign a meaning to; "What message do you see in this letter?"; "How do you interpret his behavior?" understand - know and comprehend the nature or meaning of; "She did not understand her husband"; "I understand what she means" be amiss, misapprehend, misconceive, misconstrue, misunderstand, misinterpret - interpret in the wrong way; "Don't misinterpret my comments as criticism"; "She misconstrued my remarks" read between the lines - read what is implied but not expressed on the surface mythicise, mythicize - interpret as a myth or in terms of mythology; "mythicize the ancient stories" literalise, literalize - make literal; "literalize metaphors" spiritualise, spiritualize - give a spiritual meaning to; read in a spiritual sense reinterpret - assign a new or different meaning to allegorise, allegorize - interpret as an allegory read, take - interpret something in a certain way; convey a particular meaning or impression; "I read this address as a satire"; "How should I take this message?"; "You can't take credit for this!" read - interpret something that is written or printed; "read the advertisement"; "Have you read Salman Rushdie?" |
| 2. | interpret - give an interpretation or explanation to deconstruct - interpret (a text or an artwork) by the method of deconstructing re-explain, reinterpret - interpret from a different viewpoint commentate - serve as a commentator, as in sportscasting misinterpret - interpret falsely explain, explicate - make plain and comprehensible; "He explained the laws of physics to his students" annotate, gloss, comment - provide interlinear explanations for words or phrases; "He annotated on what his teacher had written" commentate - make a commentary on | |
| 3. | interpret - give an interpretation or rendition of; "The pianist rendered the Beethoven sonata beautifully" performing arts - arts or skills that require public performance perform, do, execute - carry out or perform an action; "John did the painting, the weeding, and he cleaned out the gutters"; "the skater executed a triple pirouette"; "she did a little dance" sing - deliver by singing; "Sing Christmas carols" | |
| 4. | interpret - create an image or likeness of; "The painter represented his wife as a young girl" artistic creation, artistic production, art - the creation of beautiful or significant things; "art does not need to be innovative to be good"; "I was never any good at art"; "he said that architecture is the art of wasting space beautifully" re-create - create anew; "Re-create the boom of the West on a small scale" carnalize, sensualize - represent materialistically, as in a painting or a sculpture silhouette - represent by a silhouette profile - represent in profile, by drawing or painting paint - make a painting of; "He painted his mistress many times" capture - succeed in representing or expressing something intangible; "capture the essence of Spring"; "capture an idea" depict, picture, show, render - show in, or as in, a picture; "This scene depicts country life"; "the face of the child is rendered with much tenderness in this painting" stylise, stylize, conventionalize - represent according to a conventional style; "a stylized female head" map - make a map of; show or establish the features of details of; "map the surface of Venus" limn, portray, depict - make a portrait of; "Goya wanted to portray his mistress, the Duchess of Alba" portray, present - represent abstractly, for example in a painting, drawing, or sculpture; "The father is portrayed as a good-looking man in this painting" draw - represent by making a drawing of, as with a pencil, chalk, etc. on a surface; "She drew an elephant"; "Draw me a horse" | |
| 5. |  interpret - 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."ingeminate, iterate, reiterate, repeat, restate, retell - to say, state, or perform again; "She kept reiterating her request" retranslate - translate again mistranslate - translate incorrectly gloss - provide an interlinear translation of a word or phrase Latinize - translate into Latin translate - be translatable, or be translatable in a certain way; "poetry often does not translate"; "Tolstoy's novels translate well into English" | |
| 6. |  interpret - make sense of a language; "She understands French"; "Can you read Greek?"understand - know and comprehend the nature or meaning of; "She did not understand her husband"; "I understand what she means" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
interpret
verb
1. understand, take, read, explain, regard, construe The speech might be interpreted as a coded message.
2. translate, convert, paraphrase, adapt, transliterate She spoke little English, so her husband interpreted.
3. explain, define, clarify, spell out, make sense of, decode, decipher, expound, elucidate, throw light on, explicate The judge has to interpret the law as it's being passed.
4. understand, read, explain, crack, solve, figure out (informal), comprehend, decode, deduce, decipher, suss out (slang) The pictures are often difficult to interpret.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
interpret
verb1. To make understandable:
Archaic: enucleate.
Idiom: put into plain English.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
يُتَرْجِميُفَسِّرُيُفَسِّريُفَسِّر المَعْنى، يُوَضِّح
vyložitinterpretovattlumočit
fortolketolkeudlægge
tulkita
tumačiti
tolmácsol
túlkatúlka, útskÿra
解釈する
해석하다
interpretacijainterpretuotivertėjas
interpretētizskaidrotiztulkottulkot
interpretovaťtlmočiť
razlagatitolmačiti
tolka
แปล
giải thích
interpret
[ɪnˈtɜːprɪt]A. VT
1. (= translate orally) → traducir, interpretar
2. (= explain, understand) → interpretar
how are we to interpret that remark? → ¿cómo hemos de interpretar ese comentario?
that is not how I interpret it → yo no lo entiendo así, yo lo entiendo de otro modo
how are we to interpret that remark? → ¿cómo hemos de interpretar ese comentario?
that is not how I interpret it → yo no lo entiendo así, yo lo entiendo de otro modo
B. VI (= translate) → traducir; (= work as interpreter) → trabajar de intérprete
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
interpret
[ɪnˈtɜːrprɪt] vt
(= translate) [+ speech] → interpréter
(= decide meaning of) [+ law, writing] → interpréter
No one agrees on how the poem should be interpreted → Personne n'est d'accord sur la façon dont le poème doit être interprété., Personne n'est d'accord sur la façon dont on devrait interpréter le poème.
The judge has to interpret the law → Le juge doit interpréter la loi.
to interpret sth as sth (= take as) → interpréter qch comme qch
He interpreted my comments as criticism → Il a interprété mes commentaires comme une critique.
No one agrees on how the poem should be interpreted → Personne n'est d'accord sur la façon dont le poème doit être interprété., Personne n'est d'accord sur la façon dont on devrait interpréter le poème.
The judge has to interpret the law → Le juge doit interpréter la loi.
to interpret sth as sth (= take as) → interpréter qch comme qch
He interpreted my comments as criticism → Il a interprété mes commentaires comme une critique.
(= perform) [+ music, role] → interpréter
vi
(= translate) → servir d'interprète
Steve couldn't speak French, so his friend interpreted → Comme Steve ne parlait pas français, son ami a servi d'interprète.
to interpret for sb → servir d'interprète à qn
Paul had to interpret for us → Paul a dû nous servir d'interprète.
Steve couldn't speak French, so his friend interpreted → Comme Steve ne parlait pas français, son ami a servi d'interprète.
to interpret for sb → servir d'interprète à qn
Paul had to interpret for us → Paul a dû nous servir d'interprète.
(professionally) → travailler comme interprète
She interpreted at the international conference → Elle a travaillé comme interprète à la conférence internationale.
She interpreted at the international conference → Elle a travaillé comme interprète à la conférence internationale.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
interpret
vt
(= translate orally) → dolmetschen
(= explain, understand) → auslegen, interpretieren; omen, dream → deuten; world → verstehen; (Theat, Mus) → interpretieren; this could be interpreted as meaning or to mean that … → das könnte man so auslegen or interpretieren, dass …; how would you interpret what he said? → wie würden Sie seine Worte verstehen or auffassen?
vi → dolmetschen
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
interpret
[ɪnˈtɜːprɪt]1. vt
a. (translate orally) to interpret sth (into) → tradurre qc (in)
b. (explain, understand) → interpretare
2. vi → fare da interprete
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
interpret
(inˈtəːprit) verb1. to translate a speaker's words, while he is speaking, into the language of his hearers. He spoke to the audience in French and she interpreted.
2. to explain the meaning of. How do you interpret these lines of the poem?
3. to show or bring out the meaning of (eg a piece of music) in one's performance of it. The sonata was skilfully interpreted by the pianist.
inˌterpreˈtation nouninˈterpreter noun
a person who translates the words of a speaker into the language of his hearers.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
interpret
→ يُفَسِّرُ vyložit fortolke interpretieren ερμηνεύω interpretar tulkita interpréter tumačiti interpretare 解釈する 해석하다 interpreteren tolke zinterpretować interpretar толковать tolka แปล yorumlamak giải thích 翻译Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
interpret
v. interpretar, traducir oralmente.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
interpret
vt, vi interpretarEnglish-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.