decipher
Americanverb (used with object)
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deciphers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deciphered,
past participle, past
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deciphering
present participle
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to make out the meaning of (poor or partially obliterated writing, etc.).
to decipher a hastily scribbled note.
-
to discover the meaning of (anything obscure or difficult to trace or understand).
to decipher hieroglyphics.
- Synonyms:
- explain, unravel, solve, comprehend
-
to interpret by the use of a key, as something written in cipher.
to decipher a secret message.
-
Obsolete. to depict; portray.
verb
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to determine the meaning of (something obscure or illegible)
-
to convert from code into plain text; decode
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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decipherabilitynoun
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decipherernoun
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deciphermentnoun
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decipherableadjective
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undecipherableadjective
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undecipheredadjective
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undecipherablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deciphersimple
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decipherssimple
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have decipheredperfect
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has decipheredperfect
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am decipheringprogressive
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are decipheringprogressive
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is decipheringprogressive
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have been decipheringperfect progressive
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has been decipheringperfect progressive
Past
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decipheredsimple
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had decipheredperfect
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was decipheringprogressive
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were decipheringprogressive
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had been decipheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of decipher
First recorded in 1520–30; translation of Middle French déchiffrer; equivalent to de- + cipher
Explanation
Decipher means translate from code, or more generally, figure out. If you can’t decipher your teacher's writing, it means you can't read it. You might feel like you're being asked to decipher a code. During World War II, the Nazis used a machine called the Enigma to encode secret messages. An operator would type the message with a keyboard, which would activate a set of rotors, giving each letter a different value. The code was difficult for the Allies to crack, but eventually the code was deciphered by the British, hastening the end of the war.
Vocabulary lists containing decipher
English Words Derived from Arabic
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The City of Ember
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Dr Helen Paul, an economic historian at the University of Southampton, was one of the experts brought in to decipher 18th Century ledgers.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Many blockchain analytics firms help law enforcement decipher “anonymous” transactions and hunt down illicit activity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Their goal was not to decipher the symbols, which remain undecoded, but to measure their structural properties.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026
Carmel-by-the-Sea has long had its own dispatch center, with workers trained to decipher people’s descriptions of where they live, former Police Chief Paul Tomasi told The Times in 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
And when you’re done with your poem, decipher it as if you’d just found it printed in a textbook and knew absolutely nothing about its author.
From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
Ms. Allen traces pen names, decodes handwriting and deciphers marginalia in Richmond’s correspondence and books.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The fact that the bat brainstem processes various complex acoustic signals differently can also help scientists to understand how the brain deciphers and processes complex human speech.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2024
She studies for the driver’s license test with them, deciphers public transportation for them and most of all just lets them know she is here to listen and help.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2023
The brain deciphers the signals and takes action in milliseconds - a process completed every second or so for 12 or more hours a day.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 14, 2023
When a direction is so ill-written that the sorters can't make it out, the letter is taken to a man they call the "Blind Clerk," and he generally deciphers it.
From St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 2, December, 1877 by Various
For decades, they remained largely untouched, but researchers have now deciphered them, uncovering texts that range from magical rituals to royal records and everyday administrative notes.
From Science Daily ● May 5, 2026
But the point for Kagan in bringing up this legislative history was merely to provide “yet more proof” of statutory meaning already deciphered through “straight-up statutory construction.”
From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2026
The data turned out to be essential to cracking the case, the people said, a breakthrough that happened only recently when a tech-savvy law-enforcement officer wrote a new computer program that finally deciphered the information.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far.
From Barron's ● Nov. 19, 2025
From the Decoding Room, deciphered messages go to Hut 3—through a wooden tunnel.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
And with wedding season in full swing, our style experts offer advice for deciphering head-scratching dress codes like “Hollywood Western” and “Catskills chic.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
The bots also weren’t great at deciphering things like maps.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
"We are deciphering the 'identity card' of tumors, by identifying, one by one, the key variables that determine the evolution of the disease," explains Pittet.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 10, 2026
She exits her state without deciphering Paula’s words, yet feels an innate and moving satisfaction anyway, as if she could glean the meaning of what her former patient said without understanding every word.
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2026
It’s as though we’re in a secret middle-of-the-night hideout, deciphering a top-secret code.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
