Construe (Verb)

Meaning

Make sense of; assign a meaning to; "What message do you see in this letter?"; "How do you interpret his behavior?".

Classification

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting.

Examples

• Her philosophical views were difficult to construe from her writing.
• It is challenging for most readers to construe the meaning of the novel without some background information.
• The jury's task was to construe the evidence presented during the trial.
• How do you construe the symbolism in the painting of the old cottage and broken wheel.
• They tended to construe his absence as an admission of guilt.

Synonyms

• Interpret
• See

Hypernyms

• Understand

Hyponyms

• Educe
• Misconceive
• Misconstrue
• Be Amiss
• Draw Out
• Extract
• Elicit
• Allegorize
• Mythicize
• Literalize
• Spiritualize
• Read Between The Lines
• Reinterpret
• Read
• Take
• Misapprehend
• Misunderstand

Related Words

• Construe With (verb)
• Construal (noun)