parsing

[ pahr-sing ]

noun

1. the act or process of analyzing sentences or their elements grammatically:

   Many sites offer additional help for those studying classical Greek texts, such as quick parsing and translation.

2. the act or process of analyzing language, behavior, events, etc., closely or minutely to discover their implications or deeper meaning:

   At first I interpreted the case the same way, but on second thought, and after careful parsing of the press releases, it's not as clear-cut.

   There will always be opportunities to entertain disquisitions on the subject, more detailed parsing of the circumstances, and so on.

3. Computers. the process of analyzing character strings in order to associate them with syntactic units of the underlying grammar:

   If the file path contains spaces, use double quotes to ensure correct parsing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of parsing¹

pars(e) ( def ) + -ing ¹( def )

Example Sentences

“About what happened on Election Day, outcomes always involve referendum judgments and choice, and it looks like the former, say, as reflected in low presidential approval ratings, carried the day this time, though there’s more work to do here parsing what voters did and why,” Wlezien said.

From Salon

Smith contends, after scrupulously parsing the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, that Trump’s conduct “was not official, and, in the alternative, that the Government has rebutted any presumptive immunity for any of the remaining conduct that the Court finds to be official.”

From Salon

The difficulty in parsing exactly what the former president means also makes it hard to determine how literally to take him, even if his comments do inspire worry.

From Salon

Luckily for AMC – and “TWD” diehards, I guess – most of the audience isn’t watching these shows for their explorations of philosophy or thoughtful parsing of what it means to believe in something greater than yourself, for good or ill.

From Salon

News outlets ended up with articles bogged down in parsing federal law, carefully defining what exactly counts as an altercation, and quoting milquetoast official statements like “There was an incident and a report was filed.”

From Salon