Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Construe
Con-strue
(?; Archaic ?)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Construed
(#)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Construing
(#)
.] 1.
To apply the rules of syntax to (a sentence or clause) so as to exhibit the structure, arrangement, or connection of, or to discover the sense; to explain the construction of; to interpret; to translate.
2.
To put a construction upon; to explain the sense or intention of; to interpret; to understand.
Thus we are put to
construe
and paraphrase our own words to free ourselves either from the ignorance or malice of our enemies. Bp. Stilingfleet.
And to be dull was
construed
to be good. Pope.
Webster 1828 Edition
Construe
CONSTRUE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To arrange words in their natural order; to reduce from a transposed to a natural order, so as to discover the sense of a sentence; hence, to interpret; and when applied to a foreign language, to translate; to render into English; as, to construe Greek, Latin or French.2.
To interpret; to explain; to show or to understand the meaning.I pray that I may not be so understood or construed.
Thus we are put to construe and paraphrase our own words.
Definition 2024
construe
construe
English
Noun
construe (plural construes)
- A translation.
- An interpretation.
Translations
translation
|
interpretation
|
|
Verb
construe (third-person singular simple present construes, present participle construing, simple past and past participle construed)
- To interpret or explain the meaning of something.
- The world must construe according to its wits; this court must construe according to the law.
- Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons, 1954
- (grammar) To analyze the grammatical structure of a clause or sentence.
- 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 436:
- Thus, in a sentence such as:
(113) John considers [SFred to be too sure of himself]
the italicised Reflexive himself can only be construed with Fred, not with John: this follows from our assumption that non-subject Reflexives must have an antecedent within their own S. Notice, however, that in a sentence such as:
(114) John seems to me [S — to have perjured himself]
himself must be construed with John.
- Thus, in a sentence such as:
-
- To translate.
Derived terms
Translations
to interpret or explain the meaning of something
to analyze the grammatical structure
to translate — see translate