Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To understand or explain the meaning of (something), especially in a particular way; interpret: synonym: explain.
- intransitive verb To analyze the structure of (a clause or sentence).
- intransitive verb To use syntactically.
- intransitive verb To translate, especially aloud.
- intransitive verb To analyze grammatical structure.
- intransitive verb To be subject to grammatical analysis.
- noun An interpretation or translation.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To yield to or admit of grammatical analysis or interpretation: as, a sentence that will not construe.
- To arrange the words of in their natural order; reduce the words of from a transposed to a natural order, so as to demonstrate the sense; hence, interpret, and, when applied to a foreign language, translate: as, to
construe a sentence; to construe Greek, Latin, or French. - Hence To interpret; explain; show or understand the meaning of; render.
- Synonyms Interpret, Render, etc. (see
translate ). Construe, Construct. “To construe means to interpret, to show the meaning; to construct means to build: we may construe a sentence, as in translation, or construct it, as in composition.”
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To apply the rules of syntax to (a sentence or clause) so as to exhibit the structure, arrangement, or connection of, or to discover the sense; to explain the construction of; to interpret; to translate.
- transitive verb To put a construction upon; to explain the sense or intention of; to interpret; to understand.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
translation . - noun An
interpretation . - verb To
interpret orexplain themeaning of something. - verb grammar To
analyze thegrammatical structure of aclause orsentence . - verb To
translate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make sense of; assign a meaning to
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"no prudent person will deny that there is need of many supplements and explanations from other writings" than the Bible, to the end, namely, that a person may construe from the German Bibles the true Catholic faith.
Luther Examined and Reexamined A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation 1904
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[Footnote 1: The vulgar pronunciation of the word construe is here intended.
The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 Jonathan Swift 1706
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As I've explained, the Administration bill would purport to "construe" Common Article 3 of Geneva to prohibit only what the McCain Amendment prohibits (and to cut off any judicial review that might overturn that implausible interpretation of Common Article 3).
Balkinization 2006
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Yet in his statement Bush said he will "construe" an exception, "which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a manner consistent ... with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances."
BUSH ON CRACK AND SUPERVIAGRA: THE POSTAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND ENHANCEMENT ACT News from Mad Plato 2007
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Yet in his statement Bush said he will "construe" an exception, "which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a manner consistent ... with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances."
Archive 2007-01-01 News from Mad Plato 2007
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In other words, Congress can go fly a kite as far as trying to control him in matters of National Defense, because he can "construe" the laws anyway he chooses, even construe them as null and void.
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If you believe that Israel is a legitimate state, then you will "construe" any article that treats it as legitimate as "pro-Israeli."
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Besides the idiocy of thinking that an Amendment that directs a Court to "construe" something a certain way would actually work, it suffers the additional problem that it has NO POLITICAL APPEAL whatsoever.
Libertarian Blog Place Various Libertarian Bloggers 2010
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I'm not convinced that amendments directing Courts to "construe" words are productive, nor do I believe that defining words in the Constitution will work since the Court already disregards plain meaning of words for its own ends.
Libertarian Blog Place Various Libertarian Bloggers 2010
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Looking to context, if you mean "construe", I gather that you (and many other progressives) are not a fan of this "four corners" concept?
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED Mike Rivero 2010
mohitanand commented on the word construe
verb: interpreted in a particular way
The author's inability to take a side on the issue was construed by both his opponents and supporters as a sign of weakness.
October 19, 2016