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

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.

To put a construction upon; to explain the sense or intention of; to interpret; to understand.

To analyze or take apart ( a sentence) so as to show the word- relationship and make plain the meaning; translate.

To translate; interpret; explain.

To arrange words in their natural order, or to reduce them, so as to discover the sense; to translate; to interpret; to explain; to understand. See Construct.

In a dead or foreign language, to arrange words in their natural order and to translate them; to interpret; to explain.

Unless forbidden, I will endeavour to construe your silence as oblivion. – Checkmate by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Judges could construe statutes and contracts in favor of justice or injustice, as their own pleasure might dictate. – The Unconstitutionality of Slavery by Lysander Spooner

" I don't know," said Julian; " perhaps Hazlet will join us in our construe." – Julian Home by Dean Frederic W. Farrar

She has been used to her father's abstraction, and does not construe it into any slight. – Floyd Grandon's Honor by Amanda Minnie Douglas

This concentration gave her vivid little face an air of quietude, subjection, and voiceless sorrow, which Aunt Hitty was glad to construe as repentance. – Barbara Ladd by Charles G. D. Roberts

He was likely to tell it quicker for not being questioned; your Cockney dislikes anything he can construe into inquisition. – Jimgrim and Allah's Peace by Talbot Mundy

Read over the Ovid to Jefferson, and construe about ten lines more. – The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (of 2) by Florence A. Thomas Marshall

How would that precious West Lynne construe it? – East Lynne by Mrs. Henry Wood

The chapel- bell began to ring at a quarter to eleven, and Tom got in early and took his place in the lowest row, and watched all the other boys come in and take their places, filling row after row; and tried to construe the Greek text which was inscribed over the door with the slightest possible success, and wondered which of the masters, who walked down the chapel and took their seats in the exalted boxes at the end, would be his lord. – Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes

I prefer to construe it: 'brought into the condition which Lisette desires, ' that is to say, 'subject to her charms. – A Selection from the Comedies of Marivaux by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux

It is especially to be observed that notwithstanding the union of so considerable a force, no act was committed that even the jealousy of an irritated power could construe as an act of aggression, and that the commander of the squadron and his officers, in strict conformity with their instructions, holding themselves ever ready for the most active duty, have achieved the still purer glory of contributing to the preservation of peace. – Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present by Various

Anxious to reach unanimous decisions even when unanimity was lacking, the principal statesmen boldly had recourse to ingenious formulas and provisional agreements, which each party might construe in its own way, and paid scant attention to what was going on outside. – The Inside Story Of The Peace Conference by Emile Joseph Dillon

The police could only construe your visit to Moyne's flat as zeal on behalf of the bank. – The Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank L. Packard

Nothing can so mislead as to construe together, and as a whole, the carefully separated clauses which define the different powers to be exercised over distinct subjects by the Congress. – The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Jefferson Davis

Clara herself writes as early as October- Mary says things which I construe into unkindness. – Mrs. Shelley by Lucy M. Rossetti