parse

American  

[pahrs, pahrz] / pɑrs, pɑrz /

verb (used with object)

parses, present (3rd person singular) parsed, past participle, past parsing present participle

1. to analyze (a sentence) in terms of grammatical constituents, identifying the parts of speech, syntactic relations, etc.

2. to describe (a word in a sentence) grammatically, identifying the part of speech, inflectional form, syntactic function, etc.

3. to analyze (something, as a speech or behavior) to discover its implications or uncover a deeper meaning.

   Political columnists were in their glory, parsing the president's speech on the economy in minute detail.

4. Computers. to analyze (a string of characters) in order to associate groups of characters with the syntactic units of the underlying grammar.

---

verb (used without object)

parses, present (3rd person singular) parsed, past participle, past parsing present participle

1. to be able to be parsed; lend itself to parsing.

   Sorry, but your concluding paragraph simply doesn't parse.

parse British  

/ pɑːz /

verb

1. to assign constituent structure to (a sentence or the words in a sentence)

2. (intr) (of a word or linguistic element) to play a specified role in the structure of a sentence

3. computing to analyse the source code of a computer program to make sure that it is structurally correct before it is compiled and turned into machine code

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• parser
  noun
• parsing
  noun
• parsable
  adjective
• unparsed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• parsing
  present
• parsed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• parse
  simple
• parses
  simple
• have parsed
  perfect
• has parsed
  perfect
• am parsing
  progressive
• are parsing
  progressive
• is parsing
  progressive
• have been parsing
  perfect progressive
• has been parsing
  perfect progressive

Past

• parsed
  simple
• had parsed
  perfect
• was parsing
  progressive
• were parsing
  progressive
• had been parsing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will parse
  simple
• will have parsed
  perfect
• will be parsing
  progressive
• will have been parsing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of parse

First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin pars “part,” as in pars ōrātiōnis “part of speech”

Explanation

When you parse a sentence, you break it into parts and analyze each element carefully. When your sweetheart shouts "You never listen!" it's a bad idea to parse that by replying, "I just heard you, so I must be listening." The ability to successfully parse language is important. A binding legal contract, for example, should be read very carefully so you know exactly what's going on. You can also parse things that are more personal. You might exhaustively parse the comments of the guy you have a desperate crush on for any hint that he shares your passionate feelings. The sad truth of the matter? If you have to parse, he probably doesn't love you. Apply your parsing skills elsewhere!

Example Sentences

Parse the language around Taiwan on state visits.

From Barron's • Jan. 7, 2026

Parse it how you will, solely by athletic accomplishment or by deftly using the platform sports provide.

From Washington Post • Jul. 7, 2019

Facebook went on to purchase Parse, a service that provided tools for mobile developers, and Oculus, a virtual reality hardware start-up, branching into new areas beyond the original social network.

From New York Times • Sep. 25, 2018

Last year, it acquired Parse, a startup that provides tools to make building apps easier by powering the back-end work of apps –and now a way for Facebook to tie itself into the mobile ecosystem.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 22, 2014

Dora Parse noted the pale, grave face of her favourite friend with concern.

From O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919 by Various

Related Words

• audit
• check
• check out
• consider
• criticize
• delve into
• explore
• inspect
• investigate
• ponder
• pore over
• probe
• read
• research
• review
• scan
• screen
• scrutinize
• study
• survey