Meanings
present singular third person decodes · participle present decoding · participle past decoded · past decoded
- To figure out something difficult to interpret.
I finally managed to decode the nearly illegible doctor's prescription.
plural decodes
- computingA product of decoding
The British picked up a decode in November 1942 indicating that guards at Auschwitz would need six hundred gas masks.
2005, Richard Breitman, U.S. Intelligence And The Nazis, page 313 more examples
If and when the remaining Allied intercepts and decodes are opened up, we may expect to learn a great deal more about the later stages of the Holocaust.
2004, David Cesarani, Holocaust: Responses to the Persecution and Mass Murder of the Jews, page 148Decodes stating that Hollandia airfields were becoming overcrowded with IJA aircraft waiting to stage forward to Wewak led to pre-emptive strikes by Allied air forces and the destruction of more than 300 Japanese aircraft on the ground.
2006, Ian Pfennigwerth, A Man of Intelligence, page 223He was sure that references to AK in the intercepts stood for Midway, but none of the decodes made the identification certain.
2011, Hervie Haufler, Codebreakers' Victory, page 192 - computingOutput from a program or device used to interpret communication protocols
This version includes more than 400 decodes that cover everything from legacy decodes to popular decodes and new or updated decodes for such protocols as voice over IP H.323, Server Message Block, Border Gateway Protocol Version 4, and Internet Inter-ORB Protocol
1999, Laura Wonnacott, “Sniffer Pro sees some switches”, in Info World, page 37
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo convert from an encrypted form to plain text.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*de
- Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
- Proto-Italic*dē
- Latindē
- Latindē-
- Englishde-
- Latincaudex
- Latincōdex
- Old Frenchcode
- Middle Englishcode
- Englishcode
- Englishdecode
Translations
Arabic فك تشفير
- فك تشفيرto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Catalan descodificar
- descodificarto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Chinese Mandarin 解碼 /解码
- 解碼 /解码 (jiěmǎ)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Czech rozšifrovat, dekódovat
- rozšifrovatto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- dekódovatto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Danish afkode
- afkodeto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Dutch ontcijferen
- ontcijferento convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Esperanto malkodi
- malkodito convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Finnish purkaa koodaus, avata
- purkaa koodausto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- avatato convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- dekoodatato convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- tulkitato figure out something difficult to interpret
French décoder
- décoderto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
German decodieren
- decodierento convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Greek αποκωδικοποιώ, αποκωδικογραφώ
- αποκωδικοποιώ (apokodikopoió)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- αποκωδικογραφώ (apokodikografó)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- αποκρυπτογραφώ (apokryptografó)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- αποκρυπτογραφώ (apokryptografó)to figure out something difficult to interpret
Hungarian dekódol, megfejt
- dekódolto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- megfejtto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Italian decodificare
- decodificareto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Japanese 解読する
- 解読する (kaidoku suru)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Māori wetewaehere
- wetewaehereto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Portuguese descodificar, decodificar
- descodificarto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- decodificarto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- descodificarto figure out something difficult to interpret
Romanian decodifica
- decodificato convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Russian декоди́ровать, раскоди́ровать
- декоди́ровать (dekodírovatʹ)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- раскоди́ровать (raskodírovatʹ)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- расшифро́вывать (rasšifróvyvatʹ)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- расшифрова́ть (rasšifrovátʹ)to convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- расшифро́вывать (rasšifróvyvatʹ)to figure out something difficult to interpret
- расшифрова́ть (rasšifrovátʹ)to figure out something difficult to interpret
- переводи́ть (perevodítʹ)to figure out something difficult to interpret
- перевести́ (perevestí)to figure out something difficult to interpret
Spanish decodificar, descodificar
- decodificarto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- descodificarto convert from an encrypted form to plain text
- traducirto figure out something difficult to interpret
Swedish avkoda
- avkodato convert from an encrypted form to plain text
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with decode
Cite this entry
decode. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decode
“decode.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decode. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “decode,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/decode.
Source: decode on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.