TRANSLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does translate mean? 

• TRANSLATE (verb)
  The verb TRANSLATE has 10 senses:

1. restate (words) from one language into another language

2. change from one form or medium into another

3. make sense of a language

4. bring to a certain spiritual state

5. change the position of (figures or bodies) in space without rotation

6. be equivalent in effect

7. be translatable, or be translatable in a certain way

8. subject to movement in which every part of the body moves parallel to and the same distance as every other point on the body

9. express, as in simple and less technical language

10. determine the amino-acid sequence of a protein during its synthesis by using information on the messenger RNA

  Familiarity information: TRANSLATE used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRANSLATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they translate    ... he / she / it translates   
Past simple: translated   
Past participle: translated   
-ing form: translating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Restate (words) from one language into another language

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

interpret; render; translate

Context example:

He translates for the U.N.

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

ingeminate; iterate; reiterate; repeat; restate; retell (to say, state, or perform again)

Verb group:

translate (be translatable, or be translatable in a certain way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "translate"):

retranslate (translate again)

mistranslate (translate incorrectly)

gloss (provide an interlinear translation of a word or phrase)

Latinize (translate into Latin)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

translation (a written communication in a second language having the same meaning as the written communication in a first language)

translator (someone who mediates between speakers of different languages)

translator (a person who translates written messages from one language to another)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Change from one form or medium into another

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

transform; translate

Context example:

Braque translated collage into oil

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "translate"):

metricise; metricize (express in the metric system)

diagonalise; diagonalize (transform a matrix to a diagonal matrix)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

translation (the act of changing in form or shape or appearance)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make sense of a language

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

interpret; read; translate; understand

Context example:

Can you read Greek?

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 4

Meaning:

Bring to a certain spiritual state

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

channel; channelise; channelize; transfer; transmit; transport (send from one person or place to another)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Change the position of (figures or bodies) in space without rotation

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Domain category:

geometry (the pure mathematics of points and lines and curves and surfaces)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

translation (a uniform movement without rotation)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Be equivalent in effect

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

the growth in income translates into greater purchasing power

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

be; equal (be identical or equivalent to)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 7

Meaning:

Be translatable, or be translatable in a certain way

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

Tolstoy's novels translate well into English

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Verb group:

interpret; render; translate (restate (words) from one language into another language)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

translation (a written communication in a second language having the same meaning as the written communication in a first language)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Subject to movement in which every part of the body moves parallel to and the same distance as every other point on the body

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

translation (the act of uniform movement)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Express, as in simple and less technical language

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

Is there a need to translate the psychiatrist's remarks?

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

paraphrase; rephrase; reword (express the same message in different words)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 10

Meaning:

Determine the amino-acid sequence of a protein during its synthesis by using information on the messenger RNA

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "translate" is one way to...):

ascertain; determine; find; find out (establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study)

Domain category:

genetic science; genetics (the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

translation ((genetics) the process whereby genetic information coded in messenger RNA directs the formation of a specific protein at a ribosome in the cytoplasm)

 Context examples 

In fact, since the mapping of the human genome in 2001 it is known that only about 2% is actually translated into proteins.

(Scientists Discover Molecule that Could Reverse Cellular Aging, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The translated Per and Cry genes form a complex in the cytoplasm that is transported back into the nucleus.

(Circadian Rhythm Pathway BioCarta, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

"Our findings in mice showed that more adipsin in the blood translated to better diabetes control," Dr. Lo said.

(New Potential Approach Found to Type 2 Diabetes Treatment, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Technology has helped these patients to communicate through devices that translate head or eye movements into speech.

(Scientists translate brain signals into speech sounds, National Institutes of Health)

The results support the idea that astrocytes help the brain translate changes in these gases into breathing.

(Star-like cells may help the brain tune breathing rhythms, National Institutes of Health)

Stretches of DNA can be read and translated into proteins in different ways.

(Revealing the human proteome, NIH)

The mission of the Knight Cancer Institute is to translate discoveries into better ways to diagnose, prevent, and treat cancer.

(Knight Cancer Institute, NCI Thesaurus)

Clinical, basic, and population research conducted by experts across disciplines enables FCCC to translate new research findings into medical applications that may become models for improved cancer care.

(Fox Chase Cancer Center, NCI Thesaurus)

Accelerated tree growth caused by a warming climate does not necessarily translate into enhanced carbon storage, an international study suggests.

(Amount of carbon stored in forests reduced as climate warms, University of Cambridge)

Both GDF9 mRNA and protein are abundantly expressed in oocytes of primary follicles in human ovary, suggesting that the GDF9 transcript is translated at this early stage of folliculogenesis.

(Growth Differentiation Factor 9, NCI Thesaurus)