Read Meaning

/ɹiːd/
A1

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Listen pronunciation

verbTo look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.

verbTo look at and interpret letters or other information that is written., To be understood or physically read in a specific way.

Take a book and read it.
I read a book while eating.
Give the letter to your mother when you've read it.
Synonyms:
say
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every morning I like to ____ the daily newspaper to stay informed.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She stayed up until midnight to ____ the final chapters of the novel she had started that morning.

From Middle English reden, from Old English rǣdan (“to counsel, advise, consult; interpret, read”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādan, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaną (“advise, counsel”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- (“to arrange”). Cognate with Scots rede, red (“to advise, counsel, decipher, read”), Saterland Frisian räide (“to advise, counsel”), West Frisian riede (“to advise, counsel”), Dutch raden (“to advise; guess”), German raten (“to advise; guess”), Danish råde (“to advise”), Swedish råda (“to advise, counsel”), Persian رده (rade, “to order, to arrange, class”). In West Germanic the verb had a sense “interpret”, which developed further into “interpret letters” in English and “interpret by intuition, guess” on the continent. Compare rede.

"During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]" — 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:
"She reads Playgirl magazine, goes to a male-strip joint and then complains about sexual harassment on the job." — 1982, Robert M. Evenson, “"Liberated" Woman"”, in The Cincinnati Enquirer:
"On this occasion he was carrying in his right hand a copy of the English-language China News, an odd touch because the President did not read English." — 1983, James C. H. Shen, “A Round of Calls”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, page 112:
"In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […] and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned." — 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement. […]" — 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
Every morning I like to ____ the daily newspaper to stay informed.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She stayed up until midnight to ____ the final chapters of the novel she had started that morning.

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