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decipher

verb
/dɪˈsaɪfə(ɹ)/UK

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from cifra
  2. derived from déchiffrer and the Italian decifrare

Definitions

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

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

  3. To make sense of a complex situation.

    • 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.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. To find a solution to a problem.

    2. A decipherment

      A decipherment; a decoding.

      • 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 […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for decipher. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA