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Verb: translate  'tranz,leyt or tranz'leyt or 'tran(t)s,leyt [N. Amer], trãnz'leyt or tran(t)s'leyt [Brit]
  1. Restate (words) from one language into another language
    "I have to translate when my in-laws from Austria visit the U.S."; "He translates for the U.N.";
    - interpret, render
     
  2. Change from one form or medium into another
    "Braque translated collage into oil";
    - transform
     
  3. Make sense of a language
    "She translates French";
    - understand, read, interpret
     
  4. Be equivalent in effect
    "the growth in income translates into greater purchasing power"
     
  5. Be translatable, or be translatable in a certain way
    "poetry often does not translate"; "Tolstoy's novels translate well into English"
     
  6. Express, as in simple and less technical language
    "Can you translate the instructions in this manual for a layman?"; "Is there a need to translate the psychiatrist's remarks?"
     
  7. (genetics) determine the amino-acid sequence of a protein during its synthesis by using information on the messenger RNA
     
  8. Bring to a certain spiritual state
     
  9. (geometry) change the position of (figures or bodies) in space without rotation
     
  10. (physics) subject to movement in which every part of the body moves parallel to and the same distance as every other point on the body

Derived forms: translated, translates, translating

Type of: alter, ascertain, be, change, channel, channelise [Brit], channelize, determine, displace, equal, find, find out, ingeminate, iterate, modify, move, paraphrase, reiterate, repeat, rephrase, restate, retell, reword, transfer, transmit, transport, understand

Encyclopedia: Translate