decode
decode Lexical Profile
decode Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To convert a coded message or encrypted signal into plain, intelligible language.
"Historians worked for years to decode the secret letters written by the sixteenth-century diplomat."
To analyze and understand the underlying meaning of a complex, obscure, or unfamiliar expression, behavior, or system.
"It took the new employee a few weeks to decode the unwritten social rules of the corporate office."
To convert an electronic or digital signal into an uncompressed or usable format for display or playback.
"The media player requires a specific software plugin to decode high-definition audio files."
To recognize and pronounce written words by applying knowledge of letter-sound relationships (in reading instruction).
"Phonics lessons help young children decode unfamiliar words by sounding out individual syllables."
• noun
A message, text, or signal that has been translated from a code or cipher into plain, understandable language.
"The cryptographer handed the completed decode of the intercepted transmission to the archive team."
• Rhymes for decode
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 19th century in the context of telegraphy by combining the prefix 'de-' (expressing reversal) with 'code' (from Latin 'codex', meaning a book of laws or system of writing).