read
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Look at, interpret, and say out loud something that is written or printed.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rehdIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɛd
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
Look at, interpret, and say out loud something that is written or printed
“The King will read the proclamation at noon.”
transitive or intransitive
To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
transitive or intransitive
To speak aloud words or other information that is written. (often construed with a to phrase or an indirect object)
transitive
To interpret, or infer a meaning, significance, thought, intention, etc., from.
To consist of certain text.
To hear and understand
noun
A reading or an act of reading, especially of an actor's part of a play or a piece of stored data.
“The article was a very good read.”
at first especially in the black LGBTQ community
An instance of reading ("calling attention to someone's flaws; a taunt or insult").
A person's interpretation or impression of something.
in combination
Something to be read; a written work.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Look at, interpret, and say out loud something that is written or printed
Used this way, read is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The King will read the proclamation at noon.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- interpret , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Look / speakverb
“The King will read the proclamation at noon.”
Readingnoun
“The article was a very good read.”
More ways to use read
- “The King will read the proclamation at noon.”verb
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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.
The cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message.
A person who enjoys reading.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Completely prepared or in condition for immediate action or use or progress.
Without much difficulty.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The output of a computer in readable form.
Memory whose contents can be accessed and read but cannot be changed.
A memory chip providing read-only memory.
The reading of a passage assigned by the teacher.
A clinic for people with reading disabilities.
Desk or stand with a slanted top used to hold a text at the proper height for a lecturer.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The quality of written language that makes it easy to read and understand.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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.