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

Two of the Americans killed were members of the Iowa National Guard while the third U.S. fatality was a civilian interpreter.

From The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. launched wide-scale strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on Saturday in response to the killing of two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter last month.

From The Wall Street Journal

His mother, Irene Meyerhof Erdoes, was born in Germany, served as a United Nations interpreter and later worked at the Internal Revenue Service.

From The Wall Street Journal

Naseri, who is an Afghan national and followed proceedings through a Dari interpreter, has been remanded into custody to appear at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday.

From BBC

With his head dipped and voice low, Soto-Parada pleaded “culpable” through a Spanish interpreter as he forfeited his right to a trial.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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