parse

1 of 2

verb

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

intransitive verb

1

: to give a grammatical description of a word or a group of words

2

: to admit of being parsed

parse

2 of 2

noun

: a product or an instance of parsing

Did you know?

If parse brings up memories of learning the parts of speech in school, you've done your homework regarding this word. Parsing sentences, after all, is part and parcel of learning to read and write. 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 1700s that parse graduated to its extended, non-grammar-related sense of "to examine in a minute way" or "to analyze critically." Remember this extended sense, and you'll really be at the head of the class.

Examples of parse in a Sentence

Verb

Students were asked to parse the sentence.

Economists parsed the census data.

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Plus, Allure has staked its reputation on separating the brilliance from the BS in the beauty world, and that includes parsing through (with the help of independent experts) thousands of studies—we’re talking stacks upon stacks of data on things like wrinkle depth. —Kara Nesvig, Allure, 24 Apr. 2025

Smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi, OPPO, Honor and Vivo are embedding similar AI functions at the system level, often relying on accessibility permissions to parse visual content. —Vivian Toh, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025

In a leap forward for astronomy, a researcher has developed an artificial intelligence algorithm and discovered more than one million objects in space by parsing through understudied data from a NASA telescope. —Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Apr. 2025

This framework was then tested against three different parsing strategies, or linguistic models that illustrate how the brain builds information over time. —Gayoung Lee, Scientific American, 14 Apr. 2025

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

Rhymes for parse

• arse
• carse
• farce
• marse
• sparse

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Kids Definition

parse

verb

ˈpärs,

ˈpärz

parsed; parsing

1

: to analyze a sentence by naming its parts and their relations to each other

2

: to give the part of speech of a word and explain its relation to other words in a sentence