decipher

CEFRB2

/dɪˈsaɪfə(ɹ)/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To discover the meaning of something difficult to read or understand.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To make sense of a complex situation.

Examples

  • It took me several hours to decipher it.

  • Can you decipher the message?

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To read text that is almost illegible or obscure.

  2. To convert a code or cipher to plain text.

  3. To find a solution to a problem.

More examples

In context

  • Truly, we need human infirmity to teach us human nature, and that to Louis had been as a sealed book; he had only seen the coloured and gilded outside: too late he had to decipher the rough and gloomy page within.

  • I enclose a letter which I received yesterday evening from the Marques de Monsalud, containing the decipher of a letter from the King to the Comte d'Erlon. I wish that the Marques had sent the ciphered letter here […]

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Deep check

It took linguists several decades to finally blank the mysterious ancient script found on the desert ruins.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

As decypher, but not retaining the y from the Old French etyma of cipher (cyfre, cyffre); the i spelling tends to be preferred etymologically, being consistent with its cognates, the French déchiffrer and the Italian decifrare, and with their common ancestor, the Medieval Latin cifra, cifera, ciphra. By surface analysis, de- + cipher.