(click/touch triangles for details)
Definition
to interpret something as having a specific meaning- The executive branch does not construe the provision as requiring it to share additional information with Congress.
construe = interpret
- Juries can construe evidence to mean something it does not.
- We need someone who will not be suspected of having construed the contract in their favor.
- It was impossible to know what action might later be construed as a crime.John Steinbeck -- The Red Pony
- Now let me see if I can construe it:William Shakespeare -- The Taming of the Shrew
- Gregor would sometimes catch a friendly comment, or at least a comment that could be construed as friendly.Franz Kafka -- Metamorphosis
- But men may construe things after their fashion,
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.William Shakespeare -- Julius Caesar - I can construe the action of her familiar styleWilliam Shakespeare -- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- How do we construe "infinity"? If you have to get half way to a destination an infinite number of times prior to reaching it, and if infinity never ends, then what understanding of "infinity" permits you to reach any destination?
- Article IX The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.Alexis de Toqueville -- Democracy In America, Volume 2
- There's an old story has the same refrain; Who bade them so construe it?Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) -- Faust
- Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Rosalie looking down at the table, and I realized that my words could be construed in two ways.Stephenie Meyer -- New Moon
- CROMWELL Is that what the world in fact construes from it?Robert Bolt -- A Man for All Seasons
- To cozen him of all, were but a cheat Well placed; no man would construe it a sin: Let his sport pay for it, this is call'd the Fox-trap.Ben Jonson -- Volpone
- Your conscience will tell you, sir, whether I construe it well or not.'Charles Dickens -- Nicholas Nickleby
- Is that correctly construed?Stieg Larsson -- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
- Anything that I could construe as relevant to the day when they would leave the island had a place in the classroom.Pat Conroy -- The Water is Wide
- Construe my speeches better, if you may.William Shakespeare -- Love's Labour's Lost
- It was in this way that she had construed his answer when they parted all that time ago.T. H. White -- The Once and Future King
- Nor can there be strict rules for how the judges will construe the offenses.Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers — Modern English Edition 2
construe = interpret
construed = to interpret something as having a specific meaning
construe = to interpret something as having a specific meaning
construed = interpreted
construe = to interpret something as having a specific meaning
construe = interpret (understand the implications of)