parse
1 of 2verb
ˈpärs 
chiefly British ˈpärz
parsed; parsing
transitive verb
1
a
: to divide (a sentence) into grammatical parts and identify the parts and their relations to each other
b
: to describe (a word) grammatically by stating the part of speech and explaining the inflection (see inflection sense 2a) and syntactical relationships
2
: to examine in a minute way : analyze critically
having trouble parsing … explanations for dwindling market shares
R. S. Anson
R. S. Ansonintransitive verb
1
: to give a grammatical description of a word or a group of words
2
: to admit of being parsed
parse
2 of 2noun
: a product or an instance of parsing
Did you know?
If parse brings up images of elementary school and learning the parts of speech, you've done your homework regarding this word. Parse comes from the first element of the Latin term for "part of speech," pars orationis. It's an old word that has been used since at least the mid-1500s, but it was not until the late 18th century that parse graduated to its extended, non-grammar-related sense of "to examine in a minute way; to analyze critically." Remember this extended sense, and you're really at the head of the class.
Example Sentences
Verb Students were asked to parse the sentence. Economists parsed the census data.
Recent Examples on the Web Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 7 Sep. 2022 Even more importantly, the new software helps the robots parse complex multistep instructions on their own. Rachel Lerman, Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2022 On the docks, brokers parse the crowd according to a taxonomy of potential. Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 18 July 2022 The Lalo point is trickier to parse, since Mike implicitly tells him here that Lalo is dead and will never trouble him or Kim again. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 12 July 2022 Demographic information about defendants comes in from different sources — police, jails, courts, his office — and cannot be synthesized on software systems designed years ago to manage cases and not parse out such data. Dan Morse, Washington Post, 16 July 2022 Musk had previously stated that the deal was on hold until his team could secure such information and parse it for their own consideration. Chron, 8 July 2022 Like many formal poems such as the sonnet, the ghazal, with its restrictions, can paradoxically illuminate and parse difficult emotions. New York Times, 7 July 2022 The space agency held a workshop to brainstorm the uses of such technology, like to parse crop types and spot agricultural disease, and essentially took over the idea. Wired, 6 July 2022 Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 9 June 2022 Continuing to build our machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities in-house and transforming the format of a loom to be faster-to-parse, friendlier, and more useful. Steven Li, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022 There’s a mosaic passage each for curiosity, an open mind, and an appreciation of a sixth sense helping us decipher mysteries or parse dilemmas. Brian T. Allen, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022 Right now, companies obscure that fact in tough-to-parse privacy agreements. Washington Post, 21 July 2021 More details are also likely to emerge in the days to come, as reporters and the public parse the tome. Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2020 Short videos, about a minute long each, introduce a variety of concepts in easy-to-parse, kid-friendly ways. Kate Cox, Ars Technica, 19 Apr. 2020 Recent advances in natural language processing—an AI technique that helps machines parse, interpret, and generate text—have proven especially power-hungry. Will Knight, Wired, 21 Jan. 2020 But those take the form of long, difficult-to-parse tax documents, and crafty philanthropists can get around these requirements by starting up offshore foundations. Dylan Matthews, Vox, 20 Dec. 2018 See More
Verb
Launching September 27, starting at $299 Even for someone who pays a lot of attention to them, processor model numbers can be hard to parse. Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 7 Sep. 2022 Even more importantly, the new software helps the robots parse complex multistep instructions on their own. Rachel Lerman, Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2022 On the docks, brokers parse the crowd according to a taxonomy of potential. Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 18 July 2022 The Lalo point is trickier to parse, since Mike implicitly tells him here that Lalo is dead and will never trouble him or Kim again. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 12 July 2022 Demographic information about defendants comes in from different sources — police, jails, courts, his office — and cannot be synthesized on software systems designed years ago to manage cases and not parse out such data. Dan Morse, Washington Post, 16 July 2022 Musk had previously stated that the deal was on hold until his team could secure such information and parse it for their own consideration. Chron, 8 July 2022 Like many formal poems such as the sonnet, the ghazal, with its restrictions, can paradoxically illuminate and parse difficult emotions. New York Times, 7 July 2022 The space agency held a workshop to brainstorm the uses of such technology, like to parse crop types and spot agricultural disease, and essentially took over the idea. Wired, 6 July 2022 Noun
The game was announced last month, and a very brief teaser showed hard-to-parse scenes with a lot of careful walking to the right and a 3D motorbike section. Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 9 June 2022 Continuing to build our machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities in-house and transforming the format of a loom to be faster-to-parse, friendlier, and more useful. Steven Li, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022 There’s a mosaic passage each for curiosity, an open mind, and an appreciation of a sixth sense helping us decipher mysteries or parse dilemmas. Brian T. Allen, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022 Right now, companies obscure that fact in tough-to-parse privacy agreements. Washington Post, 21 July 2021 More details are also likely to emerge in the days to come, as reporters and the public parse the tome. Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2020 Short videos, about a minute long each, introduce a variety of concepts in easy-to-parse, kid-friendly ways. Kate Cox, Ars Technica, 19 Apr. 2020 Recent advances in natural language processing—an AI technique that helps machines parse, interpret, and generate text—have proven especially power-hungry. Will Knight, Wired, 21 Jan. 2020 But those take the form of long, difficult-to-parse tax documents, and crafty philanthropists can get around these requirements by starting up offshore foundations. Dylan Matthews, Vox, 20 Dec. 2018 See More Word History
Etymology
Verb and Noun
Latin pars orationis part of speech
First Known Use
Verb
circa 1568, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Noun
1963, in the meaning defined above
parsed
verb
as in analyzed
to understand something by considering it parts closely I'm having trouble parsing your words—could you rephrase what you said? We need time to parse the huge amount of data put forward in the report. Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- analyzed
- reviewed
- dissected
- studied
- scanned
- examined
- noticed
- scrutinized
- viewed
- inspected
- audited
- observed
- surveyed
- explored
- investigated
- watched
- perused
- combed
- researched
- probed
- classified
- plumbed
- conned
- categorized
- overlooked
- checked (out)
- oversaw
- picked over
- reinspected
- pored (over)
- re-reviewed
- resurveyed
- delved (into)
- rereviewed
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- skimmed
- missed
- glanced (at or over)
- overlooked