Counters chaos to put it into plain English (8)

I believe the answer is:

construe

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'english' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'counters chaos' is the wordplay.
'chaos' indicates anagramming the letters.
'counters' anagrammed gives 'CONSTRUE'.

'to put it into plain' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

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(Other definitions for construe that I've seen before include "Read - trounces (anag)" , "Recounts in order to interpret or explain" , "Counters (anag) - interpret" , "Interpret in a particular way" , "Understand" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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