UNDERSTAND • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Understand

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/ˌəndərstˈænd/ Listen

verb

Understand v. t. (past & past part. understood, archaic understanded; pres. part. understanding)

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. "Speaketh (i. e., speak thou) so plain at this time, I you pray, That we may understande what ye say." "I understand not what you mean by this." "Understood not all was but a show." "A tongue not understanded of the people."

To be apprised, or have information, of; to learn; to be informed of; to hear; as, I understand that Congress has passed the bill.

To recognize or hold as being or signifying; to suppose to mean; to interpret; to explain. "The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel."

To mean without expressing; to imply tacitly; to take for granted; to assume. "War, then, war, Open or understood, must be resolved."

To stand under; to support. (Jocose & R.)

To give one to understand, to cause one to know.

To make one's self understood, to make one's meaning clear.

Understand v. i. (past & past part. understood, archaic understanded; pres. part. understanding)

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."

To be informed; to have or receive knowledge. "I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah."

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Etymology of 'Understand'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Understand" Quotes from Famous Books

... "I understand what you mean, and you should have a room in my house if I had one to spare, but a neighbour of mine has one on the ground floor, and if you will wait a moment I will go ...

— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

... of life by a white man whose wife he had accidentally shot at the door of her cabin. He was one of the first to welcome the white men and adopt the improvements they brought with them. When he became sufficiently civilized to understand that polygamy was unlawful, he separated from his oldest wife. Her scalp was carefully preserved among those of the great warriors he had conquered. His son, Flying Deer, who is with us to-day, will address you in his own language, which I ...

— The Wit of Women - Fourth Edition • Kate Sanborn

... sir," he went on. "I owe everything to him. He's very good—but there are a lot of his own children; and there's my aunt—and she thinks—. My uncle doesn't grudge me anything, he often says so, but he naturally wants me to be getting my own living—and so does my aunt; and she doesn't quite understand how difficult it is, nowadays, to get in to anything—and my cousins don't understand it either, except Cicely, she's different. Of course, I can't at present contribute anything for my board and lodging and my clothes." He stopped, a minute, and looked down at ...

— A Sheaf of Corn • Mary E. Mann

... the family name, and from their taste at christenings, I should say there might be some slant toward England itself. A nomenclature not without distinction. 'Bertram'; rather nice, eh? And there is a sister who teaches in one of the schools, I understand; and her name is Rosalind, or Rosalys. Think of that! I gather that the father is in ...

— Bertram Cope's Year • Henry Blake Fuller

... The reader will probably understand this part of the subject better if he will take the trouble briefly to consider the actions of the mind and body of man in the sciences and arts, which give these latter the relations of rank usually ...

— The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3) • John Ruskin

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