verb · neutral

interpret

UK/ɪnˈtɜːprət/US/ɪnˈtɜːrprət/in·TER·pret

Band 5-6task2speaking

to explain the meaning of something; to decide what something means

Examples

How you interpret the results depends on your research method.

The judge will interpret the law in this case.

Her gesture could be interpreted as rudeness or as nervousness.

Band 8 sentence

We must be careful how we interpret correlational data; correlation does not prove causation.

Collocations

  • interpret data/results
  • open to interpretation
  • interpret as

Word family

interpret verbinterpretation nouninterpretive / interpretative adjective

Common mistakes

I interpret the report to himI interpreted the report for him / I translated the report for him

The data interpret that...The data suggest that... / We interpret the data as...

Say it for a higher band

5explain6analyse7+interpret

Synonyms

explain

Easily confused

translate

She translated the article from Spanish into English.

Related words

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In Sublist 3

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