decipher Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb convert code into ordinary language
    decode; decrypt.
  2. verb read with difficulty
    trace.
    • Can you decipher this letter?
    • The archeologist traced the hieroglyphs

WordNet

De*ci"pher transitive verb
Etymology
Pref. de- + cipher. Formed in imitation of F. déchiffrer. See Cipher.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Deciphered ; present participle & verbal noun Deciphering
Definitions
  1. To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters.
  2. To find out, so as to be able to make known the meaning of; to make out or read, as words badly written or partly obliterated; to detect; to reveal; to unfold.
  3. To stamp; to detect; to discover. R.
    You are both deciphered, . . . For villains. Shak.

Webster 1913