decoder

[ dee-koh-der ]

noun

a person who decodes messages or the like.
a device for decoding cryptograms, codes, or the like, as an electric or electronic apparatus that transforms arbitrary input signals into letters, words, etc.

Navigation. an electronic circuit designed to respond only to certain signals and to reject others.
Computers. a circuit designed to produce a single output when actuated by a certain combination of inputs.
Television. a box attached to a television set containing circuitry to unscramble encoded signals, as cable-television programs or closed captions, so that the signals can be displayed on the screen.

Origin of decoder

First recorded in 1915–20; decode + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

The resulting mood decoder enabled the researchers to identify how each of the volunteers was feeling on the basis of readouts from the electrodes in their brains.
Here’s how personalized brain stimulation could treat depression | Jessica Hamzelou | November 4, 2022 | MIT Technology Review
Long-term data sets such as the observatory’s are like decoders that let scientists read climate records kept by nature, like the width of tree rings and the composition of sediment layers.
Kites, balloons, and blueberries | Saima May Sidik, SM ’21 | August 24, 2022 | MIT Technology Review
The nonprofit Environmental Working Group has a label decoder that explains technical terms and cleaning ingredients.
How to find ‘green’ cleaning products that get the job done | Laura Daily | August 24, 2021 | Washington Post
There are all kinds of shapes, sizes, connections, and decoders.
Level-up your PC audio experience with the best desktop speakers | Tony Ware | August 19, 2021 | Popular-Science
The decoder, an algorithm called a “state-space model,” could reliably parse pain signals with up to 80% accuracy and a few seconds delay.
A New Brain Implant Automatically Detects and Kills Pain in Real Time | Shelly Fan | June 29, 2021 | Singularity Hub

Scheiber inferred that Jarrett “is the closest we have to a human decoder ring” capable of unveiling “the real Barack Obama.”
Valerie Jarrett, Obama Consigliere—and Democracy Killer | James Poulos | November 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Adam Hanft is a decoder of the consumer culture and our branded planet.
The Week in Fact-Checking | Adam Hanft | November 1, 2008 | THE DAILY BEAST
There Bud watched as he hooked up the leads from the computer to a transmitting-receiving decoder with a short-range antenna.
Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X | Victor Appleton
Tom walked over to the electronic decoder brain and began to tap out a message on the keyboard.
Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X | Victor Appleton
Tom felt a pang of worry as he dressed the next morning, and then relieved the man on duty at the decoder.
Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X | Victor Appleton
A bell signal from the electronic brain brought them rushing to the decoder.
Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X | Victor Appleton
When the message was typed by the decoder Ihjel hovered over it, reading each word as it appeared on the paper.
Planet of the Damned | Harry Harrison

decoder

[ dē-kō′dər ]

An electronic or software device that converts telecommunication signals from their transmitted form into a form interpretable to other devices or to human beings.

Browse