decipher
verbnounattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//dɪˈsaɪfə(ɹ)//
To convert a code or cipher to plain text.
verb
- 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
To find a solution to a problem.
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.
noun
- 1
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 […]
Forms
- plural
- deciphers
- past tense
- deciphered
- past participle
- deciphered
- present participle
- deciphering
- third person singular
- deciphers
decipher · To convert a code or cipher to plain text.
decision · The act of deciding.decisive · Having the power or quality of deciding a question or…deck · Any raised flat surface that can be walked on: a balcony; a…