parse

[pahrs, pahrz]

verb (used with object)

parsed, parsing 

1. to analyze (a sentence) in terms of grammatical constituents, identifying the parts of speech, syntactic relations, etc.

2. to describe (a word in a sentence) grammatically, identifying the part of speech, inflectional form, syntactic function, etc.

3. to analyze (something, as a speech or behavior) to discover its implications or uncover a deeper meaning.

   Political columnists were in their glory, parsing the president's speech on the economy in minute detail.

4. Computers.,  to analyze (a string of characters) in order to associate groups of characters with the syntactic units of the underlying grammar.

verb (used without object)

parsed, parsing 

1. to be able to be parsed; lend itself to parsing.

   Sorry, but your concluding paragraph simply doesn't parse.

parse

/ pɑːz /

verb

1. to assign constituent structure to (a sentence or the words in a sentence)

2. (intr) (of a word or linguistic element) to play a specified role in the structure of a sentence

3. computing to analyse the source code of a computer program to make sure that it is structurally correct before it is compiled and turned into machine code

Other Word Forms

• parsable adjective
• parsing noun
• parser noun
• misparse verb (used with object)
• unparsed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of parse¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin pars “part,” as in pars ōrātiōnis “part of speech”

Word History and Origins

Origin of parse¹

C16: from Latin pars ( orātionis ) part (of speech)

Example Sentences

Under normal circumstances, Wall Street would be preparing to parse through September’s retail sales report Thursday morning—but these aren’t normal circumstances.

Read more on Barron's

Does the notion that everything I buy could — and should — be the “best” version send me down deep research vortexes, hours spent parsing product descriptions and comparing reviews, where superiority is measured mainly by price?

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Markets will parse Powell’s remarks for any hint of which side of the mandate worries him more.

Read more on Barron's

This is the little-known but prescient speech that Saladin Ambar expertly parses and intriguingly reinterprets in “Murder on the Mississippi.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Bank of America parses its customers’ bank and credit card accounts to see who is receiving wages or unemployment benefits to gauge the state of the labor market.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• audit 
• check 
• check out 
• consider 
• criticize 
• delve into www.thesaurus.com
• explore 
• inspect 
• investigate 
• ponder 
• pore over www.thesaurus.com
• probe 
• read 
• research 
• review 
• scan 
• screen 
• scrutinize 
• study 
• survey