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compiler

[ kuh m-pahy-ler ]
/ kəmˈpaɪ lər /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR compiler ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who compiles.
Also called compiling routine. Computers. a computer program that translates a program written in a high-level language into another language, usually machine language.Compare interpreter(def 3a).

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RELATED WORDS

connoisseur, hobbyist, linguist, fancier, authority, antiquarian, finder, antiquary, accumulator, gatherer, author, lexicologist, editor, definer

Nearby words

  1. competitory,
  2. compilation,
  3. compilation film,
  4. compile,
  5. compiled language,
  6. compiègne,
  7. complacence,
  8. complacency,
  9. complacent,
  10. complain

Origin of compiler

1300–50; Middle English compilour < Anglo-French; Old French compileor < Late Latin compīlātōr-. See compile, -er2
Related formspre·com·pil·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for compiler

British Dictionary definitions for compiler

compiler

/ (kəmˈpaɪlə) /

noun

a person who collects or compiles something
a computer program by which a high-level programming language, such as COBOL or FORTRAN, is converted into machine language that can be acted upon by a computerCompare assembler
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for compiler

compiler

n.

early 14c., from Anglo-French compilour, Old French compileur "author, chronicler," from Latin compilatorem, agent noun from compilare (see compile). Another form of the word current in early Modern English was compilator, directly from the Latin.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Science definitions for compiler

compiler

[ kəm-pī′lər ]

A computer program associated with certain programming languages that converts the instructions written in those languages into machine code that can later be executed directly by a computer. See more at programming language.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.