To decode is to take out of code and put into understandable language. (Its opposite is encode, "to put into coded form".) But dreams may sometimes also be decoded; psychologists often try to decode the images of their patients' dreams so as to understand the emotions behind them. And readers must often decode what a novel or story or poem is telling them, which may require two or three readings. Decipher is often a synonym, though we now use it when talking about reading difficult handwriting.
Readers can easily decode the novel's imagery. I'm trying to decode the expression on her face. The box decodes the digital signal for your CD player.
Recent Examples on the WebSince the album's release on May 20, fans all around the world have tried to decode and decipher the meaning behind each song’s lyrics. Leah Campano, Seventeen, 13 July 2022 Other controls in the interior are much easier to decode and use, even if the presentation inside looks dated because of this design's age and rental-car materials budget. Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver, 5 July 2022 Darrell and Janelle start to panic, not understanding how to decode their phrase, while Nehemiah and Melinda arrive at the nucleus, having completed their final bike ride. Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 14 Jan. 2022 To be resilient to these risks, companies need to decode the complexity of these forces, understand business impact and address stakeholders’ divergent demands.Forbes, 8 Aug. 2022 NeuroKey software would then decode that data and play it back as auditory feedback tones, since the patient's eyesight was very limited. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 15 Apr. 2022 The Astros were found to have used a system to decode opponents' signs and relay them to hitters by banging on a trash can during the 2017 season. Matt Young, Chron, 21 Apr. 2022 Attorneys have had to wrestle with an alphabet soup of witness testimony and email evidence over the past seven weeks, stopping every few minutes to decode a jumble of letters or make sense of Navy jargon. Kristina Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Apr. 2022 Technological devices that directly interact with the brain, known as brain-computer interfaces, offer the potential to decode an individual’s thoughts and translate them into action using a robotic arm or a cursor on a screen. David Caldwell, The Conversation, 30 Mar. 2022 See More