To read means to look at written words and understand their meaning. When you read a book, your eyes move across the letters and your brain translates them into ideas, stories, or information. Reading lets people share knowledge across time and distance: you can read words written thousands of years ago or sent from across the world.

Reading takes different forms. You might read a novel for pleasure, getting lost in an adventure story. You might read a textbook to learn about ancient civilizations or how plants grow. You might read instructions to build a model or follow a recipe. Each type of reading serves a different purpose, but all involve making sense of written language.

The word also means to understand or interpret something. You might read someone's expression to tell if they're upset or happy. A meteorologist reads weather patterns to predict storms. When you read between the lines, you understand something that wasn't directly stated. If a situation is hard to predict, you might say it's hard to read.

Read is also the past tense of read (though pronounced differently: “red” instead of “reed”). You read a chapter last night, and you'll read another one tomorrow.