Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To become aware of the nature and significance of; know or comprehend.
  • intransitive verb To become aware of the intended meaning of (a person or remark, for example).
  • intransitive verb To know and be tolerant or sympathetic toward.
  • intransitive verb To know thoroughly by close contact or long experience with.
  • intransitive verb To learn indirectly or infer, as from hearsay.
  • intransitive verb To assume to be or accept as agreed.
  • intransitive verb To supply or add (words or a meaning, for example) mentally.
  • intransitive verb To have understanding, knowledge, or comprehension.
  • intransitive verb To have sympathy or tolerance.
  • intransitive verb To learn something indirectly or secondhand; gather.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To receive from a word or collocation of words or from a sign the idea it is intended to convey: with the thing said, the person speaking, or the language as the direct object of the verb.
  • To interpret the signification of; seize the idea of; comprehend as resulting from a thought, principle, or rule; explain.
  • To receive information about; learn by paying heed to what is said and done; consider.
  • To know in substance, as a fact or saying; be acquainted with; recognize.
  • To take as meant or implied; imply; infer; assume; take for granted: chiefly in the past participle.
  • To recognize as implied or meant, although not expressed; supply mentally, as a word necessary to bring out the sense of an author: as, in the phrase ‘All are mortal,’ we must understand the word men, living beings, or the like.
  • To stand under.
  • To have the use of the intellectual faculties; be an intelligent and conscious being; have understanding; be wise.
  • To be informed by another; learn.
  • To give attention; listen.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To have the use of the intellectual faculties; to be an intelligent being.
  • intransitive verb To be informed; to have or receive knowledge.
  • transitive verb To have just and adequate ideas of; to apprehended the meaning or intention of; to have knowledge of; to comprehend; to know
  • transitive verb To be apprised, or have information, of; to learn; to be informed of; to hear.
  • transitive verb To recognize or hold as being or signifying; to suppose to mean; to interpret; to explain.
  • transitive verb To mean without expressing; to imply tacitly; to take for granted; to assume.
  • transitive verb Jocose & R. To stand under; to support.
  • transitive verb to cause one to know.
  • transitive verb to make one's meaning clear.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To be aware of the meaning of.
  • verb To believe, based on information.
  • verb To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb know and comprehend the nature or meaning of
  • verb be understanding of
  • verb perceive (an idea or situation) mentally
  • verb make sense of a language
  • verb believe to be the case

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English understanden, from Old English understandan : under-, under- + standan, to stand; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English understanden, from Old English understandan ("to understand"), from Proto-Germanic *under (“between”) + *standanan (“to stand”), equivalent to Old English under- ("between, inter-") + standan ("to stand"). Cognate with Eastern Frisian understunda ("to understand"), Old High German understantan ("to understand"), Middle Danish understande ("to understand"). Compare also Dutch onderstaan ("to undertake, presume"), German unterstehen ("to be subordinate"). More at inter-, stand.

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Examples

  • A person near expressed a fear that he did not understand what I said, being so weak and near death, but he quickly, and with great emphasis, exclaimed, '_I hear, I understand_' While I was praying his expression of countenance was most lovely.

    Metlakahtla and the North Pacific Mission Eugene Stock 1882

  • And that is not the worst of it; they can't understand that _I can't understand_ them.

    Rollo in Holland Jacob Abbott 1841

  • And some pious neighbors, earnestly exhorting him to solemn concern and preparation, could not make him understand, we repeat with emphasis, _understand_ why there was occasion for any extraordinary disturbance of mind.

    An Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance John Foster 1806

  • For God has so ordered the Prophecies, that in the latter days _the wise may understand, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand_, Dan. xii.

    Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John Isaac Newton 1684

  •   And the studies that we are doing are not only going to  help us understand BPA,   but they’re really going to help us understand  endocrine-disrupting chemicals in general.

    Expert Q&A: Toxicologist Linda Birnbaum on BPA 2010

  • And with that in mind… just in case you didn’t understand a word of the afore-mentioned, I will put it in a language you can understand…

    ugotsoul Diary Entry ugotsoul 2003

  • The term "atheist" is itself confusing, since it is often unclear whether those who use the label understand it to mean a rejection of every notion of God, or a rejection of theism.

    Science and Religion Around the Blogosphere James F. McGrath 2008

  • The term "atheist" is itself confusing, since it is often unclear whether those who use the label understand it to mean a rejection of every notion of God, or a rejection of theism.

    Archive 2008-05-01 James F. McGrath 2008

  • The only tactic that the GOP seems to understand is tossing out the false equivalency argument.

    Kaine: GOP 'civil war' pushing moderate Republicans 'overboard' 2010

  • The only tactic that the GOP seems to understand is tossing out the false equivalency argument.

    Kaine: GOP 'civil war' pushing moderate Republicans 'overboard' 2010

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