Definition of "decipher"

decipher

/dɪˈsaɪfə(ɹ)/

verb
third-person singular simple present deciphers, present participle deciphering, simple past and past participle deciphered
1. (transitive) To decode or decrypt a code or cipher to plain text.
2. (transitive) To read text that is almost illegible or obscure
3. (transitive) To make sense of a complex situation.
  Quotations
  Truly, we need human infirmity to teach us human nature, and that to Louis had been as a sealed book; he had only seen the coloured and gilded outside: too late he had to decipher the rough and gloomy page within.
  1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 13
4. (transitive) To find a solution to a problem.
noun
plural deciphers
1. A decipherment; a decoding.
  Quotations
  I enclose a letter which I received yesterday evening from the Marques de Monsalud, containing the decipher of a letter from the King to the Comte d'Erlon. I wish that the Marques had sent the ciphered letter here […]
  1837, Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington, John Gurwood, The Dispatches of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington, K.G.