interpret
verb
Simple meaning
To explain what something means.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnturpruhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnˈtɝpɹət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To explain or tell the meaning of; to translate orally into intelligible or familiar language or terms. applied especially to language, but also to dreams, signs, conduct, mysteries, etc.
Restate (words) from one language into another language
intransitive
To convey what a user of one language is saying or signing, in real time or shortly after that person has finished communicating, to a user of a different language
To decode the meaning of a topic and then act, whether to continue researching the topic, follow through, act in opposition, or further the understanding through sharing an interpretation.
Make sense of a language
To apprehend and represent by means of art; to show by illustrative representation
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To explain or tell the meaning of; to translate orally into intelligible or familiar language or terms. applied especially to language, but also to dreams, signs, conduct, mysteries, etc.
Used this way, interpret is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Someone who mediates between speakers of different languages.
An explanation of something that is not immediately obvious.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A mental representation of the meaning or significance of something.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.