parsing

[pahr-sing]

noun

1. the act or process of analyzing sentences or their elements grammatically.

   Many sites offer additional help for those studying classical Greek texts, such as quick parsing and translation.

2. the act or process of analyzing language, behavior, events, etc., closely or minutely to discover their implications or deeper meaning.

   At first I interpreted the case the same way, but on second thought, and after careful parsing of the press releases, it's not as clear-cut.

   There will always be opportunities to entertain disquisitions on the subject, more detailed parsing of the circumstances, and so on.

3. Computers.,  the process of analyzing character strings in order to associate them with syntactic units of the underlying grammar.

   If the file path contains spaces, use double quotes to ensure correct parsing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of parsing¹

pars(e) ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

Helicopters circled over the neighborhood and showed footage of investigators parsing through scattered items in the home’s rear while multiple people filmed the scene with their phones from the street.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But he also admitted that parsing out how illegal immigration impacts the job market “is difficult.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

James Joyce’s "Ulysses" rained em dashes on winding sentences that he had already stripped of quotation marks, resulting in prose so unruly that numerous reading groups are devoted specifically to parsing it.

Read more on Salon

On X, many Silicon Valley executives along with Maga-world influencers were picking sides and parsing each of the back-and-forth messages posted by the president and the world's richest man.

Read more on BBC

While Canadians, by necessity, spend a lot of time parsing political drama in the economic and military superpower next door, it’s probably safe to say most Americans spend almost no time thinking about Canada.

Read more on Los Angeles Times