interpretation
/ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/
interpretation means an act of interpreting or explaining something unclear; a translation; a version. It carries an Arena rating of 1489, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, interpretation ranks #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #7,100 of 14,440 for Most Satisfying to Say, #7,206 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #11,049 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
interpretation is pronounced /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/.
Why “interpretation” is a great word
The act or result of explaining, translating, or assigning meaning to something, especially something unclear or expressed in another language. From Middle English interpretacioun, via Anglo-Norman and Old French interpretacion, from Latin interpretātiō, the noun of action from interpretor ("to explain, expound, interpret"). Unlike "translation," which is the measured conversion of text, or "explanation," a general making-clear, interpretation demands the immediate, improvisatory work of judgment—the simultaneous whisper in a diplomat’s ear, the conductor’s singular vision of a musical score, and the juror’s weighing of silence and gesture in a witness box. It is the necessary friction between mind and message, where meaning is not found, but forged.
Etymology
From Middle English interpretacioun, from the Anglo-Norman form of Old French interpretacion, from Latin interpretātiō, noun of action from interpretor (“to explain, expound, interpret, understand, conclude, infer, comprehend”). Morphologically interpret + -ation.
noun
- An act of interpreting or explaining something unclear; a translation; a version.“The interpretation of a dream, or of an enigma”
- A sense given by an interpreter; an exposition or explanation given; meaning.“Commentators give various interpretations of the same passage of Scripture.”
- The discipline or study of translating one spoken or signed language into another (as opposed to translation, which concerns itself with written language).“I believe that interpretation, particularly consecutive interpretation, is an art. I also believe, however, that the skill of consecutive interpretation can be taught, but only up to a point.”
- The power of explaining.
- An artist's way of expressing thought or embodying a conception of nature through art.
- An act or process of applying general principles or formulae to the explanation of the results obtained in special cases.
- An approximation that allows aspects of a mathematical theory to be discussed in ordinary language.
- An assignment of a truth value to each propositional symbol of a propositional calculus.
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