INTERPRETER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does interpreter mean? 

• INTERPRETER (noun)
  The noun INTERPRETER has 4 senses:

1. someone who mediates between speakers of different languages

2. someone who uses art to represent something

3. an advocate who represents someone else's policy or purpose

4. (computer science) a program that translates and executes source language statements one line at a time

  Familiarity information: INTERPRETER used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTERPRETER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who mediates between speakers of different languages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

interpreter; translator

Hypernyms ("interpreter" is a kind of...):

go-between; intercessor; intermediary; intermediator; mediator (a negotiator who acts as a link between parties)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "interpreter"):

dragoman (an interpreter and guide in the Near East; in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries a translator of European languages for the Turkish and Arab authorities and most dragomans were Greek (many reached high positions in the government))

symboliser; symbolist; symbolizer (someone skilled in the interpretation or representation of symbols)

Instance hyponyms:

Edward Fitzgerald; Fitzgerald (English poet remembered primarily for his free translation of the poetry of Omar Khayyam (1809-1883))

Benjamin Jowett; Jowett (English classical scholar noted for his translations of Plato and Aristotle (1817-1893))

Tindal; Tindale; Tyndale; William Tindal; William Tindale; William Tyndale (English translator and Protestant martyr; his translation of the Bible into English (which later formed the basis for the King James Version) aroused ecclesiastical opposition; he left England in 1524 and was burned at the stake in Antwerp as a heretic (1494-1536))

Bishop Ulfila; Bishop Ulfilas; Bishop Wulfila; Ulfila; Ulfilas; Wulfila (a Christian believed to be of Cappadocian descent who became bishop of the Visigoths in 341 and translated the Bible from Greek into Gothic; traditionally held to have invented the Gothic alphabet (311-382))

Derivation:

interpret (restate (words) from one language into another language)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who uses art to represent something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

she was famous as an interpreter of Shakespearean roles

Hypernyms ("interpreter" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

interpret (create an image or likeness of)

interpret (give an interpretation or rendition of)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An advocate who represents someone else's policy or purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

interpreter; representative; spokesperson; voice

Context example:

the meeting was attended by spokespersons for all the major organs of government

Hypernyms ("interpreter" is a kind of...):

advocate; advocator; exponent; proponent (a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "interpreter"):

ambassador (an informal representative)

flack; flack catcher; flak; flak catcher (a slick spokesperson who can turn any criticism to the advantage of their employer)

mouth; mouthpiece (a spokesperson (as a lawyer))

spokesman (a male spokesperson)

spokeswoman (a female spokesperson)

bagman; commercial traveler; commercial traveller; roadman; traveling salesman; travelling salesman (a salesman who travels to call on customers)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(computer science) a program that translates and executes source language statements one line at a time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

interpreter; interpretive program

Hypernyms ("interpreter" is a kind of...):

computer program; computer programme; program; programme ((computer science) a sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Derivation:

interpret (restate (words) from one language into another language)

 Context examples 

All my retinue was that poor lad for an interpreter, whom I persuaded into my service, and, at my humble request, we had each of us a mule to ride on.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter—often an unconscious, but still a truthful interpreter—in the eye.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In order to negotiate with him they have to get an interpreter, and they pitch upon this Mr. Melas, having used some other one before.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I afterwards found that he generally acted, with his strong voice, as Mr. Creakle's interpreter to the boys.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They conversed with one another through the means of an interpreter, and sometimes with the interpretation of looks; and Safie sang to him the divine airs of her native country.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I spoke in the Balnibarbian tongue, and my interpreter delivered my meaning in that of Luggnagg.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He earns his living partly as interpreter in the law courts and partly by acting as guide to any wealthy Orientals who may visit the Northumberland Avenue hotels.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had many acquaintance, and among persons of the best fashion; and being always attended by my interpreter, the conversation we had was not disagreeable.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Her feminine perception, however, had instantly seen through the disguise when, on the occasion of the interpreter’s visit, she had seen him for the first time.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This interpreter was a person employed to transact affairs with the Hollanders.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)