Definitions for Understanding
ˌʌn dərˈstæn dɪŋun·der·stand·ing

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:2.0 / 2 votes

1. understanding, apprehension, discernment, savvynoun

   the cognitive condition of someone who understands

   "he has virtually no understanding of social cause and effect"

2. agreement, understandingnoun

   the statement (oral or written) of an exchange of promises

   "they had an agreement that they would not interfere in each other's business"; "there was an understanding between management and the workers"

3. sympathy, understandingnoun

   an inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion

   "his sympathies were always with the underdog"; "I knew I could count on his understanding"

4. reason, understanding, intellectadjective

   the capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination

   "we are told that man is endowed with reason and capable of distinguishing good from evil"

5. understandingadjective

   characterized by understanding based on comprehension and discernment and empathy

   "an understanding friend"

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. understandingnoun

   Mental, sometimes emotional process of comprehension, assimilation of knowledge, which is subjective by its nature.

2. understandingnoun

   Reason or intelligence, ability to grasp the full meaning of knowledge, ability to infer.

3. understandingnoun

   Opinion, judgement or outlook.

   According to my understanding, the situation is quite perilous. I wonder if you see it this way, too.

4. understandingnoun

   An informal contract, mutual agreement.

   I thought we had an understanding - you do the dishes, and I throw the trash.

5. understandingnoun

   A reconciliation of differences.

   The parties of the negotiation have managed to come to an understanding.

6. understandingnoun

   Sympathy.

   He showed much understanding when he found out of my troublesome familial history.

7. understandingnoun

   All that people individually sense and feel of themselves.

8. understandingadjective

   Showing compassion.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Understandingadjective

   Knowing; skilful.

   The present physician is a very understanding man, and well read. Joseph Addison, Remarks on Italy.

2. Understandingnoun

   Etymology: from understand.

   1. Intellectual powers; faculties of the mind, especially those of knowledge and judgment.

   I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance. William Shakespeare, Winter Tale.

   Make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. Isaiah.

   It maketh day-light understanding, out of darkness. Francis Bacon.

   When she rates things, and moves from ground to ground,
   The name of reason she obtains by this:
   But when by reason she the truth hath found,
   And standeth fix’d, she understanding is. Davies.

   Life and sense,
   Fancy and understanding: whence the soul
   Reason receives, and reason is her being. John Milton.

   God is to the understanding of man, as the light of the sun is to our eyes, its first and most glorious object. John Tillotson.

   2. Skill.

   The understandings of a senate are often enslaved by three or four leaders. Jonathan Swift.

   Right understanding consists in the perception of the visible or probable agreement or disagreement of ideas. John Locke.

   Very mean people have raised their minds to a great sense and understanding of religion. John Locke.

   3. Intelligence; terms of communication.

   He hoped the loyalty of his subjects would concur with him in the preserving of a good understanding between him and his people. Edward Hyde.

   We have got into some understanding with the enemy, by means of Don Diego. Arbuthnot.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Understanding

   Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object. Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object of understanding. Understanding implies abilities and dispositions with respect to an object of knowledge that are sufficient to support intelligent behavior.Understanding is often, though not always, related to learning concepts, and sometimes also the theory or theories associated with those concepts. However, a person may have a good ability to predict the behavior of an object, animal or system—and therefore may, in some sense, understand it—without necessarily being familiar with the concepts or theories associated with that object, animal, or system in their culture. They may have developed their own distinct concepts and theories, which may be equivalent, better or worse than the recognized standard concepts and theories of their culture. Thus, understanding is correlated with the ability to make inferences.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. Understanding

   of Understand

2. Understandingadjective

   knowing; intelligent; skillful; as, he is an understanding man

3. Understandingnoun

   the act of one who understands a thing, in any sense of the verb; knowledge; discernment; comprehension; interpretation; explanation

4. Understandingnoun

   an agreement of opinion or feeling; adjustment of differences; harmony; anything mutually understood or agreed upon; as, to come to an understanding with another

5. Understandingnoun

   the power to understand; the intellectual faculty; the intelligence; the rational powers collectively conceived an designated; the higher capacities of the intellect; the power to distinguish truth from falsehood, and to adapt means to ends

6. Understandingnoun

   specifically, the discursive faculty; the faculty of knowing by the medium or use of general conceptions or relations. In this sense it is contrasted with, and distinguished from, the reason

FreebaseRate this definition:4.0 / 3 votes

1. Understanding

   Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object. Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object of understanding. Understanding implies abilities and dispositions with respect to an object of knowledge sufficient to support intelligent behavior. An understanding is the limit of a conceptualization. To understand something is to have conceptualized it to a given measure.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. understanding

   The intuitive feeling, knowing, intelligence, act, fact and ability to understand.

   It was their understanding that both their families would be attending the full wedding and cousins attending the afters of the wedding.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on January 20, 2020  

2. ---

   understanding

   Verb from of the word understand.

   The understanding of the team is accurate and clear so we always remain united through all moments of time.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on August 14, 2020  

Matched Categories

1. • Inclination
   • Statement

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Understanding' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1354

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Understanding' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2137

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'Understanding' in Nouns Frequency: #610

How to pronounce Understanding?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say Understanding in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Understanding in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Understanding in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of Understanding in a Sentence

1. Sumbul Desai:

   Knowing more about your menstrual cycle gives you a window into your health, from simply insuring you are prepared to understanding your personal patterns and regularities.

2. The Chicago mayor:

   We have been in Little Village working with those street vendors, understanding what the nature of the crime is, making sure that we’re doing things in concert with them to help them, to make sure that their money is secure. Not use money, if at all possible, using other forms of transactions to carry themselves.

3. Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet:

   Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

4. Ronald David Laing:

   Schizophrenia cannot be understood without understanding despair.

5. Steve Wozniak:

   We're at a clear inflection point and facing exponential growth of space commercialization, having a better, global understanding of what's already up in space is critical to powering the new space economy.

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