decipher
A decipherment; a decoding.
Noun
- 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 […] -...
Origin
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.
Forms
Verb
- To convert a code or cipher to plain text.
Synonyms: decode decrypt uncode
- To read text that is almost illegible or obscure.
- 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. -...
- To find a solution to a problem.
Synonyms: resolve unriddle work out absolve decipher get to the bottom of iron out meliorate puzzle out ravel reason out riddle sleuth solve tease out think out unpuzzle unravel unsolve upsolve Any from Thesaurus:untangle
Forms
Derived
decipherability decipherable decipheration decipherer decipheress decipherment indecipherability indecipherable misdecipher redecipher undecipher undecipherable undeciphered