How to use read in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb, noun
Read means to look at and interpret letters or other information that is written. Example: “Have you read this book?”
Examples of read by meaning
verbTo look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
- Have you read this book?
- He doesn’t like to read.
- She reads Playgirl magazine, goes to a male-strip joint and then complains about sexual harassment on the job.1982, Robert M. Evenson, “"Liberated" Woman"”, in The Cincinnati Enquirer
verbTo be understood or physically read in a specific way.
- Arabic reads right to left.
- That sentence reads strangely.
- Place-names throughout the 4,000-mile-long passage read like a roster of those who challenged its icy labyrinths of more than 18,000 islands—Baffin, Hudson, Davis, Foxe, Parry, Bylot, Sverdrup.1989 May, Jeff MacInnis, “Braving the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 586
verbTo read a work or works written by the named author.
- At the moment I'm reading Milton.
verbTo speak aloud words or other information that is written. (often construed with a to phrase or an indirect object).
- He read us a passage from his new book.
- All right, class, who wants to read next?
- He read the letter aloud.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC
verbTo interpret, or infer a meaning, significance, thought, intention, etc., from.
- She read my mind and promptly rose to get me a glass of water.
- I can read his feelings in his face.
verbTo consist of certain text.
- On the door hung a sign that read "No admittance".
verbUsed to introduce a blunter, actually intended meaning.
- Our school focuses primarily on the liberal arts (read "useless degrees").
- Eliminate illogical (read: stupid) answer choices.2009, Suzee Vlk et al., The GRE Test for Dummies, 6th edition, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 191
verbTo be able to hear what another person is saying over a radio connection.
- Do you read me?
- Do you read me, HAL?1968, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, spoken by Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea)
More sentences with read
- She opened the book to page 37 and began to read aloud.From the entry book
- It was one of those small-town dive bars you often read about.From the entry you
- The computer writes to the disk faster than it reads from it.From the entry write
- I need some more books to read and friends to go partying with.From the entry to
- They gave me the book about whales. That I've not yet read.From the entry that
- There was a slight catch in her voice as she read the letter out loud.From the entry voice
- When evaluating this math problem, don't forget to read the givens.From the entry given
- The electricity was cut off, so we had to read by candlelight.From the entry by
- She can't read, so the voice recording was made for her benefit.From the entry benefit
- True, I have only read part of the book, but I like it so far.From the entry true
- Transposition frequently is harder to read because of all the sharps and flats on the staff.From the entry sharp
- As a child she had nothing to read but the legends of early Christian martyrs.From the entry legend
- I was without formal education but was well read and articulate.From the entry without
- I read the magazine, but I usually don't purchase the annuals.From the entry annual
- Am citit un articol foarte interesant. (I've read a very interesting article).From the entry absolute superlative
- Am citit o carte tare proastă. (I read a very bad book).From the entry absolute superlative
- The email was so syrupy and overblown that it read like pure glurge.From the entry glurge
- I wrapped the text so that I wouldn't need to scroll to the right to read it.From the entry wrap
- The detective read the documents and thought, "Something sure is smelly about this case."From the entry smelly
- Here the passage modulates into A-sharp and becomes very difficult to read.From the entry a-sharp
- I never learned much more than how to read and cipher.From the entry cipher
- I humbly crave your indulgence to read this letter until the end.From the entry crave
- By the time the Department of Defense is done redacting, there won't be much left to read.From the entry redact
Meaning of read
- verb To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
- verb To be understood or physically read in a specific way.
- verb To read a work or works written by the named author.
Questions about read in a sentence
- How do you use read in a sentence?
- Read is used as a verb and noun. For example: “Have you read this book?”
- What is a short sentence with read?
- “Do you read me?”
- What does read mean?
- Read means to look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: read (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use read in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/read. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.