read between the lines

Cultural  

1. To pay attention to what is implied in writing or in speech.

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read between the lines Idioms  

1. Perceive or detect a hidden meaning, as in They say that everything's fine, but reading between the lines I suspect they have some marital problems. This term comes from cryptography, where in one code reading every second line of a message gives a different meaning from that of the entire text. [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

Read between the lines, and a trend should begin to form.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2020

Read between the lines of this article and the fallacy of the above is plainly obvious.

From New York Times • Nov. 20, 2017

Read between the lines of Adair Turner's damning letter in April to Barclays chairman, Marcus Agius, to see how the regulator had become exasperated by the bank's practices.

From The Guardian • Jul. 10, 2012

Read between the lines in the Bee story and you get a sense of what home butchering offers its practitioners.

From Time • Mar. 23, 2010

Read between the lines and the love there will comfort you more than my faulty words can.

From Songs and Other Verse by Field, Eugene