decoding

[ dee-koh-ding ]

noun

1. the act, process, or result of extracting meaning or usable information, as from a code, written or spoken symbols, or an electronic signal:

   The device that performs the decoding is called a digital to analog converter.

   Recent decodings of the hieroglyphs at Palenque refer to dates beyond the end of the Mayan calendar.

adjective

1. relating to the process of extracting meaning or usable information, as from a code or an electronic signal:

   The decoding algorithm will have to discern a valid signal from the noise.

Word History and Origins

Origin of decoding¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; decod(e) ( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun; decod(e) ( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective

Example Sentences

Rattling Leaf has also seen his work increasingly involve analytics as he decodes the impact of climate change on historical sites.

From Ozy

Add in hyper sci-fi setups with multiple sensors, and we seem to be at a turning point for being able to “mind-read” multiple brains at once, decoding how social interactions make our brains tick—or not.

From Singularity Hub 

Together, they compare notes on anonymous reports about Spears’s living situation, pore through the posts her friends and relatives have “liked” recently, and work to decode Spears’s enigmatic social media presence.

From Vox

Place cells were one part of the 2014 physiology Nobel Prize for decoding the brain’s sense of place.

From Singularity Hub 

Yes, that’s the same season in which the team was found to have used its video replay room to decode the signs of opposing catchers.

From Washington Post

The whys the wherefores, I think a lot of that is somehow a link from decoding texts, as they say in graduate school.

From The Daily Beast

Beyond the far reaches of Google lies a web so “deep” even the FBI had difficulty busting drug trades and decoding usernames.

From The Daily Beast

Cryptography is the art of coding and decoding information between parties.

From The Daily Beast

Decoding the laugh track of the CNN Debate in Arizona, featuring references to George Costanza and bogeyman Mike Dukakis.

From The Daily Beast

Decoding is dependent on knowledge of language characteristics—characteristics of known languages.

From Project Gutenberg

"He could help decoding them and sending them through to Germany, though," Kinsley retorted grimly.

From Project Gutenberg

There is no literacy involved here, and no literacy is expected in decoding the message.

From Project Gutenberg

I remember decoding one post card from my mother, and making out the message to be "Maps in Oswego."

From Project Gutenberg

I checked up Betty's "layout" and went over the decoding process with meticulous care.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• adaptation
• explanation
• reading
• rendering
• rendition
• transcription
• version