interpreter

American  

[in-tur-pri-ter] / ɪnˈtɜr prɪ tər /

noun

1. a person who interprets.

2. a person who provides an oral translation between speakers who speak different languages.

3. Computers.

   1. hardware or software that transforms one statement at a time of a program written in a high-level language into a sequence of machine actions and executes the statement immediately before going on to transform the next statement.

   2. an electromechanical device that reads the patterns of holes in punched cards and prints the same data on the cards, so that they can be read more conveniently by people.

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interpreter British  

/ ɪnˈtɜːprɪtə /

noun

1. a person who translates orally from one language into another

2. a person who interprets the work of others

3. computing

   1. a program that translates a second program to machine code one statement at a time and causes the execution of the resulting code as soon as the translation is completed

   2. a machine that interprets the holes in a punched card and prints the corresponding characters on that card

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Other Word Forms

• interpretership noun
• interpretress noun

Etymology

Origin of interpreter

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English interpretour, from Anglo-French; equivalent to interpret + -er ²

Example Sentences

In an interview through an interpreter, he said he chose to seek safety in the U.S. because he believed that the government of any other country would deport him back to Vietnam.

From Los Angeles Times

“I did what I do when I’m at a party, which is tell some jokes,” said Ahyicodae, a 44-year-old sign-language interpreter.

From The Wall Street Journal

A spokesperson for the defendant claimed he had not fully understood the contents of the deportation order because he had not had an interpreter in court in 2020 and 2022.

From BBC

Ahmed said the Wagner men, who spoke through an interpreter, then took him to a well-fortified Malian military base, and put him in a hangar.

From BBC

The court previously heard that Kastrati was arrested and questioned without either a solicitor or an Albanian interpreter present.

From BBC

Related Words

• artist
• commentator
• editor
• exponent
• linguist
• philosopher
• scholar
• writer