parse
Americanverb (used with object)
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parses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
parsed,
past participle, past
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parsing
present participle
-
to analyze (a sentence) in terms of grammatical constituents, identifying the parts of speech, syntactic relations, etc.
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to describe (a word in a sentence) grammatically, identifying the part of speech, inflectional form, syntactic function, etc.
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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.
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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)
-
parses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
parsed,
past participle, past
-
parsing
present participle
verb
-
to assign constituent structure to (a sentence or the words in a sentence)
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(intr) (of a word or linguistic element) to play a specified role in the structure of a sentence
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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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
parsesimple
-
parsessimple
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have parsedperfect
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has parsedperfect
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am parsingprogressive
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are parsingprogressive
-
is parsingprogressive
-
have been parsingperfect progressive
-
has been parsingperfect progressive
Past
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parsedsimple
-
had parsedperfect
-
was parsingprogressive
-
were parsingprogressive
-
had been parsingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of parse
First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin pars “part,” as in pars ōrātiōnis “part of speech”
Explanation
When you parse a sentence, you break it into parts and analyze each element carefully. When your sweetheart shouts "You never listen!" it's a bad idea to parse that by replying, "I just heard you, so I must be listening." The ability to successfully parse language is important. A binding legal contract, for example, should be read very carefully so you know exactly what's going on. You can also parse things that are more personal. You might exhaustively parse the comments of the guy you have a desperate crush on for any hint that he shares your passionate feelings. The sad truth of the matter? If you have to parse, he probably doesn't love you. Apply your parsing skills elsewhere!
Vocabulary lists containing parse
Charming as Verb
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Educated
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The Martian
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It’s that it’s much more difficult to parse through an algorithmic funnel of opinions and perspectives that can often appear half-formed or entirely outside their context.
From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2026
The models also struggled to parse negation correctly, as in “take with food” versus “don’t take with food.”
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
So executives are asking employees to send more of those chats to group threads, which agents can parse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Investors will also be looking forward to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s keynote address from the Jackson Hole, Wyo., economic-policy symposium on Friday, hoping to parse indications of the Fed’s strategy on interest rates.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
Others fill out a phrase’s rhythm, which can also make the sentence easier for the reader to parse.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
And that’s a common scenario for AT&T as it parses through all the options out there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
She can hear it in the audible gasps of onlookers as she parses a moment in the pandemic that they had forgotten.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
Collins added that like others on the committee she will be looking for "clear and convincing signs" inflation is falling as she parses a range of incoming economic data to guide her policy views.
From Reuters ● Sep. 26, 2022
Ever attuned to inversion and instability, Nelson nimbly parses the “knot of freedom and unfreedom” without reflexively championing the former or condemning the latter.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2021
"The rover currently parses the signal into bytes, then identifies the specific sequence the Hab sends. That way, natural radio waves won't throw off the homing. If the bytes aren't right, the rover ignores them."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
This morning, traders parsed reports that Iran is making a new proposal to reopen the strait and potentially restart talks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
About 74% of returns that filed a capital gain in 2022 had household incomes of less than $200,000, according to Internal Revenue Service data parsed by Americans for Tax Reform.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Together, Flynn and Teruko parsed through her life stories to give the show an arc.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
For his part, Thomas writes as though history resides principally in legal texts, 19th-century dictionaries, and carefully parsed debates over sovereignty.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
As I parsed Latin sentences, I noted 03-01’s interest in my progress.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Over the summer, European officials based in Kyiv have been parsing the budget data with the government there to make their own assessment of what is missing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
This is the part I’m having trouble parsing.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
In the end, Schiller has a go at parsing her own motivations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
For investors parsing the regulatory filings, these industry trends supporting the stock carry far more weight than a few automated transactions.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
The meaningless flow of words might have left the audience with the sense that it was incapable of parsing the deep complexity of Morgan Stanley’s bond trading business.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
