Adjacent Words

Understand definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

UNDERSTAND', v.t. pret. and pp. understood. [under and stand. The sense is to support or hold in the mind.]
1. To have just and adequate ideas of; to comprehend; to know; as, to understand a problem in Euclid; to understand a proposition or a declaration.
2. To have the same ideas as the person who speaks, or the ideas which a person intends to communicate. I understood the preacher; the court perfectly understand the advocate or his argument.
3. To receive or have the ideas expressed or intended to be conveyed in a writing or book; to know the meaning. It is important that we should understand the sacred oracles.
4. To know the meaning or signs, or of anything intended to convey ideas; as, to understand a nod, a wink, or a motion.
5. To suppose to mean.
The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel.
6. To know by experience.
7. To know by instinct.
-Amorous intent, well understood.
8. To interpret, at least mentally.
9. To know another's meaning.
10. To hold in opinion with conviction.
11. To mean without expressing.
War then, war, open or understood must be resolv'd.
12. To know what is not expressed.
I bring them to receive from thee their names, and pay thee fealty with low subjection; understand the same of fish.
13. To learn; to be informed. I understand that congress have passed the bill.
UNDERSTAND', v.i.
1. To have the use of the intellectual faculties; to be an intelligent and conscious being.
All my soul be imparadis'd in you, in whom alone I understand, and grow, and see.
2. To be informed by another; to learn.
I understood of the evil that Eliashib did. Nehemiah 13.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: know and comprehend the nature or meaning of; "She did not understand her husband"; "I understand what she means"
2: perceive (an idea or situation) mentally; "Now I see!"; "I just can't see your point"; "Does she realize how important this decision is?"; "I don't understand the idea" [syn: understand, realize, realise, see]
3: make sense of a language; "She understands French"; "Can you read Greek?" [syn: understand, read, interpret, translate]
4: believe to be the case; "I understand you have no previous experience?" [syn: understand, infer]
5: be understanding of; "You don't need to explain--I understand!" [syn: sympathize, sympathise, empathize, empathise, understand]

Merriam Webster's

verb (understood; -standing) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English understandan, from under + standan to stand Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. a. to grasp the meaning of <understand Russian> b. to grasp the reasonableness of <his behavior is hard to understand> c. to have thorough or technical acquaintance with or expertness in the practice of <understand finance> d. to be thoroughly familiar with the character and propensities of <understands children> 2. to accept as a fact or truth or regard as plausible without utter certainty <we understand that he is returning from abroad> 3. to interpret in one of a number of possible ways 4. to supply in thought as though expressed <“to be married” is commonly understood after the word engaged> intransitive verb 1. to have understanding ; have the power of comprehension 2. to achieve a grasp of the nature, significance, or explanation of something 3. to believe or infer something to be the case 4. to show a sympathetic or tolerant attitude toward something • understandability noun • understandable adjective Synonyms: understand, comprehend, appreciate mean to have a clear or complete idea of. understand and comprehend are very often interchangeable. understand may, however, stress the fact of having attained a firm mental grasp of something <orders that were fully understood and promptly obeyed>. comprehend may stress the process of coming to grips with something intellectually <I have trouble comprehending your reasons for doing this>. appreciate implies a just evaluation or judgment of a thing's value or nature <failed to appreciate the risks involved>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. (past and past part. -stood) 1 tr. perceive the meaning of (words, a person, a language, etc.) (does not understand what you say; understood you perfectly; cannot understand French). 2 tr. perceive the significance or explanation or cause of (do not understand why he came; could not understand what the noise was about; do not understand the point of his remark). 3 tr. be sympathetically aware of the character or nature of, know how to deal with (quite understand your difficulty; cannot understand him at all; could never understand algebra). 4 tr. a (often foll. by that + clause) infer esp. from information received, take as implied, take for granted (I understand that it begins at noon; I understand him to be a distant relation; am I to understand that you refuse?). b (absol.) believe or assume from knowledge or inference (he is coming tomorrow, I understand). 5 tr. supply (a word) mentally (the verb may be either expressed or understood). 6 intr. have understanding (in general or in particular). Phrases and idioms: understand each other 1 know each other's views or feelings. 2 be in agreement or collusion. Derivatives: understandable adj. understandably adv. understander n. Etymology: OE understandan (as UNDER-, STAND)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Understand Un`der*stand" ([u^]n`d[~e]r*st[a^]nd"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Understood, and Archaic Understanded; p. pr. & vb. n. Understanding.] [OE. understanden, AS. understandan, literally, to stand under; cf. AS. forstandan to understand, G. verstehen. The development of sense is not clear. See Under, and Stand.] 1. To have just and adequate ideas of; to apprehended the meaning or intention of; to have knowledge of; to comprehend; to know; as, to understand a problem in Euclid; to understand a proposition or a declaration; the court understands the advocate or his argument; to understand the sacred oracles; to understand a nod or a wink.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Understand Un`der*stand", v. i. 1. To have the use of the intellectual faculties; to be an intelligent being. Imparadised in you, in whom alone I understand, and grow, and see. --Donne. 2. To be informed; to have or receive knowledge. I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah. --Neh. xiii. 7.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(understands, understanding, understood) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. If you understand someone or understand what they are saying, you know what they mean. Rusty nodded as though she understood the old woman... I don't understand what you are talking about... He was speaking poor English, trying to make himself understood. VERB: no cont, V n, V wh, make pron-refl V-ed 2. If you understand a language, you know what someone is saying when they are speaking that language. I couldn't read or understand a word of Yiddish, so I asked him to translate. VERB: no cont, V n 3. To understand someone means to know how they feel and why they behave in the way that they do. It would be nice to have someone who really understood me, a friend... Trish had not exactly understood his feelings... She understands why I get tired and grumpy. VERB: no cont, V n, V n, V wh 4. You say that you understand something when you know why or how it happens. They are too young to understand what is going on... In the effort to understand AIDS, attention is moving from the virus to the immune system. VERB: no cont, V wh, V n 5. If you understand that something is the case, you think it is true because you have heard or read that it is. You can say that something is understood to be the case to mean that people generally think it is true. We understand that she's in the studio recording her second album... As I understand it, you came round the corner by the cricket field and there was the man in the road... The management is understood to be very unwilling to agree to this request... It is understood that the veteran reporter had a heart attack. VERB: no cont, V that, V it, be V-ed to-inf, it be V-ed that/to-inf 6. If someone is given to understand that something is the case, it is communicated to them that it is the case, usually without them being told directly. I am given to understand that he was swearing throughout the game at our fans. PHRASE: give inflects, usu PHR that 7. You can use understand in expressions like do you understand? or is that understood? after you have told someone what you want, to make sure that they have understood you and will obey you. You do not hit my grandchildren, do you understand?... I don't need it, understand?... I don't want to hear another word about it. Is that understood, Emma? CONVENTION

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Apprehend, conceive, perceive, know, penetrate, discern, see, comprehend, have knowledge of, see through, make out. 2. Be informed, be apprised, learn. 3. Interpret, take, suppose to mean. 4. Mean, imply. II. v. n. 1. Be an intelligent being, have understanding. 2. Learn, hear, be apprised, be informed.

Moby Thesaurus

absorb, accept, agree, allow, appreciate, apprehend, arrange, assimilate, assume, be acquainted with, be afraid, be apprised of, be aware of, be cognizant of, be conscious of, be conversant with, be informed, be with one, believe, catch, catch on, catch on to, cognize, comprehend, conceit, conceive, conceptualize, conclude, conjecture, consider, construe, covenant, daresay, deduce, deem, define, describe, diagnose, dig, digest, discern, divine, dream, empathize with, expect, fancy, fathom, feel, follow, forgive, gather, get, get hold of, get it, get the drift, get the idea, get the picture, get wind of, grant, grasp, have, have information about, have it taped, have knowledge of, hear of, imagine, infer, interpret, ken, know, learn, let, let be, make out, master, opine, penetrate, perceive, perfume, possess, prefigure, prehend, presume, presuppose, presurmise, provisionally accept, read, read into, realize, reckon, recognize, repute, savvy, say, see, seize, seize the meaning, sense, suppose, surmise, suspect, sympathize with, take, take cognizance of, take for, take for granted, take in, take it, take it that, take to be, take to mean, think, tolerate, tumble to, twig, understand by, view, wit, wot, wot of