English
understanding
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ʌndəˈstandɪŋ/
  • (America) IPA: /ˌʌndɚˈstændɪŋ/
Etymology 1

From Middle English understandinge, understondinge, from Old English understanding, from Proto-West Germanic *undarstandingu, from Proto-Germanic *understandingō, equivalent to .

Noun

understanding (with of, but with for in sense of "sympathy")

  1. (gerund, uncountable) The act of one that understands or comprehends; comprehension; knowledge; discernment.
  2. (countable) Reason or intelligence; ability to grasp the full meaning of knowledge; ability to infer.
  3. (countable) Opinion, judgement or outlook.
    According to my understanding, the situation is quite perilous. I wonder if you see it this way, too.
  4. (countable) An agreement of minds; harmony; something mutually understood or agreed upon.
    1. An informal contract; a mutual agreement.
      I thought we had an understanding - you do the dishes, and I throw the trash.
    2. A reconciliation of differences.
      The parties of the negotiation have managed to come to an understanding.
  5. (uncountable) Sympathy.
    He showed much understanding for my problems when he heard about my past.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English understandyng, understondynge, understondinde, undirstondend, understandande, from Old English understandende, from Proto-West Germanic *undarstandandī, from Proto-Germanic *understandandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *understandaną, equivalent to .

Adjective

understanding

  1. Showing compassion, tolerance, and forbearance.
  2. (dated) Knowing; skilful.
Translations Verb
  1. Present participle and gerund of understand


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Offline English dictionary