UNDERSTAND (understood)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: understood   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does understand mean? 

• UNDERSTAND (verb)
  The verb UNDERSTAND has 5 senses:

1. know and comprehend the nature or meaning of

2. perceive (an idea or situation) mentally

3. make sense of a language

4. believe to be the case

5. be understanding of

  Familiarity information: UNDERSTAND used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNDERSTAND (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they understand    ... he / she / it understands   
Past simple: understood   
Past participle: understood   
-ing form: understanding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Know and comprehend the nature or meaning of

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

I understand what she means

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "understand"):

apprehend; compass; comprehend; dig; get the picture; grasp; grok; savvy (get the meaning of something)

sense (comprehend)

follow (grasp the meaning)

catch; get (grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of)

touch (comprehend)

interpret; read; translate; understand (make sense of a language)

read (to hear and understand)

construe; interpret; see (make sense of; assign a meaning to)

make out (comprehend)

figure out; lick; puzzle out; solve; work; work out (find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of)

bottom; fathom; penetrate (come to understand)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence examples:

They won't understand the story
Sam and Sue understand the movie

Derivation:

understandable (capable of being apprehended or understood)

understanding (the cognitive condition of someone who understands)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Perceive (an idea or situation) mentally

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

realise; realize; see; understand

Context example:

I don't understand the idea

Verb group:

envision; fancy; figure; image; picture; project; see; visualise; visualize (imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind)

see (see and understand, have a good eye)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "understand"):

perceive (become conscious of)

appreciate; take account (be fully aware of; realize fully)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

understandable (capable of being apprehended or understood)

understanding (the cognitive condition of someone who understands)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make sense of a language

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

interpret; read; translate; understand

Context example:

Can you read Greek?

Hypernyms (to "understand" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

understandable (capable of being apprehended or understood)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Believe to be the case

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

infer; understand

Context example:

I understand you have no previous experience?

Hypernyms (to "understand" is one way to...):

believe (accept as true; take to be true)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They understand him to write the letter

Sense 5

Meaning:

Be understanding of

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

empathise; empathize; sympathise; sympathize; understand

Context example:

You don't need to explain--I understand!

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

understandable (capable of being apprehended or understood)

understanding (an inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion)

 Context examples 

Some time passed before he spoke; he at last said—Come to my side, Jane, and let us explain and understand one another.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

However, he made other signs to let me understand that I should have meat and drink enough, and very good treatment.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

There had been no understanding the book, and he had returned it unread.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Oh, you are the young person who cannot understand plain English, are you?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Most people understand—do what you can.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"Of course I cannot understand it," he said.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I understand that William was usually in bed also at that hour.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

'I don't understand what it's all about.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Henry smiled, and said, “How very little trouble it can give you to understand the motive of other people's actions.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Although not completely understood, the mechanism of action appears to involve T lymphocyte clearance from the circulation and modulation of T lymphocyte activity.

(Anti-Thymocyte Globulin, NCI Thesaurus)