understand

verb

(transitive, intransitive, of communication or means of communication: words, statements, signs, etc.) To know the meaning of; to parse or have parsed correctly; to comprehend.

(transitive, generally) To know the meaning of.

(transitive, of a skill, task, profession, etc.) To be thoroughly familiar with; to be able to undertake properly.

(transitive, usually with clause as object) To comprehend a fact or principle; to regard or come to regard a belief as such.

(transitive, of people) To know the intent, motives or character of; (of events) to know the causes of or reasons for.

(transitive) To believe or infer, to think one grasps sufficiently despite potentially incomplete knowledge.

(transitive, grammar) To regard as present when not.

(humorous, rare, obsolete outside circus, acrobatics) To stand underneath, to support.

Roots

underunder- · Old English · beneath, below standan-stand · Old English · stand

Synonyms for understand

realizev comprehendv interpretv knowv perceivev inferv seev recognizev cognizev readv graspv discernv fathomv appreciatev learnv thinkv

Synonyms & related words for understand

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of understand — including realize, comprehend, interpret, know, perceive, infer. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to understand

Explore words related to understand — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include sympathize, empathize, understood, noncomprehension, translate, explain, knew, euhemerize. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for understand

Common synonyms for understand include realize, comprehend, interpret, know, perceive, infer, see, recognize — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does understand come from?

The word understand breaks down into 2 roots of Old English origin: under-, from Old English under (“beneath, below”); and -stand, from Old English standan (“stand”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.