read between the lines
read between the lines verb: to infer a meaning that is not stated explicitly.
Verb
read between the lines (third-person singular simple present reads between the lines, present participle reading between the lines, simple past and past participle read between the lines)
- To infer a meaning that is not stated explicitly.
- If you read between the lines a little, you will realize that he has deeper motives.
- The next day he made incantation, and distorted the miracle of the loaves and fishes till it became prophecy, and I, reading between the lines, saw that it was aimed at the wealth of meat stored in my caches.1901, Jack London, “A Hyperborean Brew: […]”, in The Faith of Men and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., published September 1904, →OCLC, pages 54–55
read between the lines meaning in Malayalam and Arabic
read between the lines in Malayalam
- infer a meaning that is not stated explicitly
- ഒളിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന അർത്ഥങ്ങൾ കണ്ടുപിടിക്കുക oḷiccirikkunna aṟtthaṅṅaḷ kaṇṭupiṭikkuka
read between the lines in Arabic
- infer a meaning that is not stated explicitly
- قَرَأَ مَا بَيْنَ السُّطُور qaraʔa mā bayna s-suṭūr
Examples of read between the lines in a sentence
- And if you had as much sense as the talking parrot I owned once you would have read between the lines that all I wanted you here for was to tell you what I think of you.”1919, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in The Arrow of Gold: A Story between Two Notes, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, […], →OCLC, part IV, page...
- I know you read between the lines / When them up there say it's all fine1982, Andy Hill, Peter Sinfield, “Twentieth Century Hero”, in Are You Ready, performed by Bucks Fizz:
- I tend to be extremely literal in what I say … One does not [need]^([sic]) to read between the lines.2022 June 16, Kari Paul, quoting Elon Musk, “In rare move, Elon Musk meets Twitter employees to give ‘freedom of speech’ address”, in The...
- If you could see behind my eyes / You'd see the truth inside the lies / And if you read between the lines / You'd see I'm running from my mind2024, Jackie Evancho, “Behind My Eyes”, in Solla:
Forms of read between the lines
| third-person singular present | reads between the lines |
|---|---|
| present participle | reading between the lines |
| past participle | read between the lines |
| past | read between the lines |
Origin of read between the lines
Probably from glosses and commentaries which were written between the lines and provided the reader with additional information not explicitly stated in the text.
Questions about read between the lines
- What does read between the lines mean?
- Read between the lines means to infer a meaning that is not stated explicitly.
- What is read between the lines in Malayalam?
- Read between the lines in Malayalam is ഒളിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന അർത്ഥങ്ങൾ കണ്ടുപിടിക്കുക (oḷiccirikkunna aṟtthaṅṅaḷ kaṇṭupiṭikkuka). See Read between the lines meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use read between the lines in a sentence?
- And if you had as much sense as the talking parrot I owned once you would have read between the lines that all I wanted you here for was to tell you what I think of you.”
- What part of speech is read between the lines?
- Read between the lines is a verb.
- What is the past tense of read between the lines?
- The past tense of read between the lines is read between the lines.
Words near read between the lines in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: read between the lines (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-read between the lines.ogg.
Cite this entry: “read between the lines.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/read_between_the_lines. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.