Word.ws English Dictionary

deciphered

deciphered is the simple past and past participle of decipher.

Meaning of decipher

Verb

decipher (third-person singular simple present deciphers, present participle deciphering, simple past and past participle deciphered)

  1. (transitive) To convert a code or cipher to plain text.
    Synonyms:
    decode, decrypt, uncode
    Antonyms:
    encipher, encode, encrypt
  2. (transitive) To read text that is almost illegible or obscure.
  3. (transitive) To make sense of a complex situation.
    • Truly, we need human infirmity to teach us human nature, and that to Louis had been as a sealed book; he had only seen the coloured and gilded outside: too late he had to decipher the rough and gloomy page within.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 13
  4. (transitive) To find a solution to a problem.

See all 5 meanings of decipher

Forms of deciphered

alternative formdecyphered

Words formed from deciphered

Questions about deciphered

What is deciphered the simple past and past participle of?
Deciphered is the simple past and past participle of decipher.

Words near deciphered in the dictionary

  1. decipherability
  2. decipherable
  3. decipherably
  4. decipheration
  5. decipherations
  6. deciphered
  7. decipherer
  8. decipherers
  9. decipheress
  10. decipheresses
  11. deciphering

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: deciphered (page history and authors); decipher (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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