Robert S. Anson
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
Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 2 June 2026
No one, perhaps, relishes the thought of combing through a credit report, shopping around for car insurance or parsing a bank statement.
—Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 1 June 2026
Imagine spending hours refining a resume, tailoring it to a specific role—only to have the system reject the upload or incorrectly parse the information.
—Bybryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
For Democrats, the main race to watch Tuesday, though, is the Senate primary between Josh Turek and Zach Wahls, as people try to parse what the results say about the party's future direction.
—Stephen Fowler, NPR, 31 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for parse
Cite this Entry
“Parse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parse. Accessed 3 Jun. 2026.
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