decoding

American  

[dee-koh-ding] / diˈkoʊ dɪŋ /

noun

1. the act, process, or result of extracting meaning or usable information, as from a code, written or spoken symbols, or an electronic signal.

   The device that performs the decoding is called a digital to analog converter.

   Recent decodings of the hieroglyphs at Palenque refer to dates beyond the end of the Mayan calendar.

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adjective

1. relating to the process of extracting meaning or usable information, as from a code or an electronic signal.

   The decoding algorithm will have to discern a valid signal from the noise.

Etymology

Origin of decoding

First recorded in 1895–1900; decod(e) ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun; decod(e) ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective

Example Sentences

“I’m all about decoding the rhythms of the music,” she adds.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

Exxon’s algae work was done in conjunction with Synthetic Genomics, a company founded by Craig Venter, a pioneer in decoding the human genome, that later operated under the name Viridos.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

Encoding converts digital data into these pages, while decoding translates them back into usable information.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

In the journal Nature, Microsoft's research arm said Silica was the first glass storage technology that had been demonstrated to be reliable for writing, reading and decoding data.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

She didn’t know how to start decoding this—not that she wanted to solve it or would turn in her solution if she figured it out.

From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Related Words

• adaptation
• explanation
• reading
• rendering
• rendition
• transcription
• version