construe
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con·strue
(kən-stro͞o′)v. con·strued, con·stru·ing, con·strues
v.tr.
1. To understand or explain the meaning of (something), especially in a particular way; interpret: The waiter construed my smile as assent. The editorial construed the act as irresponsible. See Synonyms at explain.
2. Grammar
a. To analyze the structure of (a clause or sentence).
b. To use syntactically: The noun fish can be construed as singular or plural.
3. To translate, especially aloud.
v.intr.
1. To analyze grammatical structure.
2. To be subject to grammatical analysis.
n. (kŏn′stro͞o′)
An interpretation or translation.
[Middle English construen, from Late Latin cōnstruere, from Latin, to build; see construct.]
con·stru′al n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
construe
(kənˈstruː)vb (mainly tr) , -strues, -struing or -strued
1. to interpret the meaning of (something): you can construe that in different ways.
2. (may take a clause as object) to discover by inference; deduce
3. (Grammar) to analyse the grammatical structure of; parse (esp a Latin or Greek text as a preliminary to translation)
4. (Grammar) to combine (words) syntactically
5. (also intr) old-fashioned to translate literally, esp aloud as an academic exercise
n
old-fashioned something that is construed, such as a piece of translation
[C14: from Latin construere to pile up; see construct]
conˈstruable adj
conˌstruaˈbility n
conˈstruer n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
con•strue
(v. kənˈstru; esp. Brit. ˈkɒn stru; n. ˈkɒn stru)v. -strued, -stru•ing,
n. v.t.
1. to give or explain the meaning or intention of; interpret.
2. to deduce by inference or interpretation; infer.
3. to analyze the grammatical structure of, esp. combined with translating: to construe a Latin sentence.
4. to arrange or combine (words, phrases, etc.) syntactically.
v.i. 5. to admit of grammatical analysis or interpretation.
6. to analyze grammatical structure.
n. 7. the act of construing.
8. something that is construed.
[1325–75; Middle English < Latin construere to put together, build =con- con- + struere to pile up, arrange]
con•stru′a•ble, adj.
con•stru′al, n.
con•stru′er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
construe
Past participle: construed
Gerund: construing
| Imperative |
|---|
| construe |
| construe |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Verb | 1. | construe - make sense of; assign a meaning to; "What message do you see in this letter?"; "How do you interpret his behavior?" understand - know and comprehend the nature or meaning of; "She did not understand her husband"; "I understand what she means" be amiss, misapprehend, misconceive, misconstrue, misunderstand, misinterpret - interpret in the wrong way; "Don't misinterpret my comments as criticism"; "She misconstrued my remarks" read between the lines - read what is implied but not expressed on the surface mythicise, mythicize - interpret as a myth or in terms of mythology; "mythicize the ancient stories" literalise, literalize - make literal; "literalize metaphors" spiritualise, spiritualize - give a spiritual meaning to; read in a spiritual sense reinterpret - assign a new or different meaning to allegorise, allegorize - interpret as an allegory read, take - interpret something in a certain way; convey a particular meaning or impression; "I read this address as a satire"; "How should I take this message?"; "You can't take credit for this!" read - interpret something that is written or printed; "read the advertisement"; "Have you read Salman Rushdie?" consider, regard, view, reckon, see - deem to be; "She views this quite differently from me"; "I consider her to be shallow"; "I don't see the situation quite as negatively as you do" educe, elicit, evoke, extract, draw out - deduce (a principle) or construe (a meaning); "We drew out some interesting linguistic data from the native informant" collocate with, construe with, cooccur with, co-occur with, go with - go or occur together; "The word 'hot' tends to cooccur with 'cold'" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
construe
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
construe
verb1. To make understandable:
Archaic: enucleate.
Idiom: put into plain English.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
construe
vt
(Gram) words → analysieren; sentence also → zerlegen; in English it is construed as an adjective → im Englischen wird das als Adjektiv betrachtet
vi (Gram, sentence) → sich zerlegen or aufgliedern or analysieren lassen
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995