construe

Attempting to construe the uncivilized and norms-busting battle that Democrats found themselves in, Garcia likened the politics of Trump's second term to a "bar fight."

From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2025

Circuit Court of Appeals, which he said could construe the law differently, or file a fresh lawsuit in state court.

From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024

Moreover, courts often construe statutes to avoid constitutional questions.

From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2024

"A second cut would display their fears more openly and indicates greater weakness; we construe a second cut as a bearish signal unless the cuts are extremely substantive."

From Reuters ● May 31, 2023

Mammachi knew this, but preferred to construe Margaret Kochamma’s silence as a tacit acceptance of payment for the favors Mammachi imagined she bestowed on her son.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

How they decide — their reasoning — might have momentous implications for how the current court construes the Constitution.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 29, 2021

“What emerges on the other side of the apocalypse as ‘Appleseed’ construes it will barely resemble what went into it.

From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2021

As in none of your business, which often construes to “she’s fine” or “doing well” or “good,” depending on who asked.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 4, 2019

The two are mirror images of a sort: one construes national identity as changeless, its rediscovery a prelude to renewed greatness; the other sees it as a product to be clarified and marketed.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 7, 2017

True to the nature of oracles, this one has a double meaning, and Semiramis construes it in the wrong way.

From Stars of the Opera by Mabel Wagnalls

As we have shown, courts long interpreted these life exceptions to protect physicians acting in good faith to preserve a patient’s life—and these actors construed “life” generously and with deference to physicians’ professional judgment.

From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026

Dabaie was asked by CNN whether the congressman’s comments can be construed as acknowledging that he cheated on his wife, while denying doing anything illegal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2026

Some of these situational advantages could be construed as luck.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026

But it could be construed as creating a slightly misleading picture in terms of net spend on the first team.

From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026

He hated himself for what he construed to be his own cowardice.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

As professors Daniel Hemel and Eric Posner observe, construing the word “whoever” to mean “whoever except the president” would do violence to the English language.

From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2024

In construing the meaning of an extraterrestrial dispatch, those who give it a go often try to anticipate what the message might be trying to say.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 3, 2023

"That is consistent with construing the speech and debate argument as a limited immunity like executive privilege. It also corresponds to the most important evidence from Pence," he tweeted.

From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2023

The majority opinion and two dissents featured conflicting conceptions of “textualism” in construing statutes.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 16, 2020

He translated fully to each group of creatures the Abbot’s message, in turn construing back to the Father Abbot their grateful thanks with pledges of help and loyalty to Redwall Abbey.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques