parse
Americanverb (used with object)
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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)
verb
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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
- misparse verb (used with object)
- parsable adjective
- parser noun
- parsing noun
- unparsed adjective
Etymology
Origin of parse
First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin pars “part,” as in pars ōrātiōnis “part of speech”
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.
There’s a good reason why “Frankenstein” is favored in gothic literature curricula over Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”: Shelley’s novel has infinitely more to parse.
From Salon
Gathering and parsing it can require thousands of analysts grinding for hours over communications intercepts, photographs and radar images as they try to divine the locations of missile launchers, tunnels and other targets.
Quantum companies are still in the early stages of commercializing the technology, making it difficult to parse out the winners from the losers.
From Barron's
Online fanatics of true crime have parsed through information about the Nancy Guthrie case, filling in the limited details with rumor, innuendo and conspiracy.
From Los Angeles Times
JGBs edged higher in price terms in the morning Tokyo session as investors parsed the potential ramifications of the Middle East conflict.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
