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Editorial Guides For "understand"
Understand
Definitions
- 1 Uh-huh, I see; a way to acknowledge something said by the other speaker. Malaysia, Singapore
- 1 To know the meaning of; to parse or have parsed correctly; to comprehend. intransitive, transitive, usually
"Can you repeat what you just said? I didn't understand."
- 2 know and comprehend the nature or meaning of wordnet
- 3 To know the meaning of; to parse or have parsed correctly; to comprehend.; To know the meaning of. intransitive, transitive, usually
"‘[…] I came back here, had a wank and finished that book.’ ‘The Naked Lunch?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘What did you reckon?’ ‘Crap.’ ‘You’re just saying that because you didn’t understand it,’ said Adrian. ‘I’m just saying that because I did understand it,’ said Tom. ‘Any road up, we’d better start making some toast.[…]’"
- 4 perceive (an idea or situation) mentally wordnet
- 5 To be thoroughly familiar with; to be able to undertake properly. transitive, usually
"The students understood the assignment."
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 believe to be the case wordnet
- 7 To comprehend a fact or principle; to regard or come to regard a belief as such. transitive, usually
"I understand that company policy says I can't get a refund, but can you make an exception?"
- 8 make sense of a language wordnet
- 9 To know the intent, motives or character of; (of events) to know the causes of or reasons for. transitive
"One day you say you love me, the next you ignore me—I don't understand you!"
- 10 be understanding of wordnet
- 11 To believe or infer, to think one grasps sufficiently despite potentially incomplete knowledge. transitive
"I've been given to understand that you have a package for me?"
- 12 To regard as present when not. transitive
"In the imperative mood, the word “you” is usually understood."
- 13 To stand underneath, to support. humorous, rare
"LAUNE: Ay, and what I do too: look thee, I'll but lean, and my staff understands me. SPEED: It stands under thee, indeed. LAUNCE:Why, stand-under and under-stand is all one."
Etymology
From Middle English understanden, from Old English understandan (“to understand”), from Proto-West Germanic *understandan (“to stand between, understand”), from Proto-Germanic *understandaną (“to stand between, understand”), equivalent to Old English under- (“between, inter-”) + standan (“to stand”) (Modern English under- + stand). Cognate with Old Frisian understonda (“to understand, experience, learn”), Old High German understantan (“to understand”), Middle Danish understande (“to understand”). Compare also Saterland Frisian understunda, unnerstounde (“to dare, survey, measure”), Dutch onderstaan (“to undertake, presume”), German unterstehen (“to be subordinate”).
From Middle English understanden, from Old English understandan (“to understand”), from Proto-West Germanic *understandan (“to stand between, understand”), from Proto-Germanic *understandaną (“to stand between, understand”), equivalent to Old English under- (“between, inter-”) + standan (“to stand”) (Modern English under- + stand). Cognate with Old Frisian understonda (“to understand, experience, learn”), Old High German understantan (“to understand”), Middle Danish understande (“to understand”). Compare also Saterland Frisian understunda, unnerstounde (“to dare, survey, measure”), Dutch onderstaan (“to undertake, presume”), German unterstehen (“to be subordinate”).
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