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

Princeton's WordNet(2.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. understanding, apprehension, discernment, savvy(noun)

   the cognitive condition of someone who understands

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

2. agreement, understanding(noun)

   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, understanding(noun)

   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, intellect(adj)

   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. understanding(adj)

   characterized by understanding based on comprehension and discernment and empathy

   "an understanding friend"

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. understanding(Noun)

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

2. understanding(Noun)

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

3. understanding(Noun)

   Opinion, judgement or outlook.

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

4. understanding(Noun)

   An informal contract, mutual agreement.

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

5. understanding(Noun)

   A reconciliation of differences.

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

6. understanding(Noun)

   Sympathy.

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

7. understanding(Noun)

   All that people individually sense and feel of themselves.

8. understanding(Adjective)

   Showing compassion.

Webster Dictionary(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Understanding

   of Understand

2. Understanding(adj)

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

3. Understanding(noun)

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

4. Understanding(noun)

   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. Understanding(noun)

   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. Understanding(noun)

   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

Freebase(4.00 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

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 Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

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  

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

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

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. President Barack Obama:

   This isn't a matter of political correctness. It's a matter of understanding what makes us strong.

2. The TMX:

   Orders have been shifted to other markets and my understanding is everybody will use the last board lot traded, regardless of where it has been traded, for the close.

3. Stephanie Melillo:

   We used to think that A. anamensis gradually turned into A. afarensis over time, we still think that these two species had an ancestor-descendent relationship, but this new discovery suggests that the two species were actually living together in the Afar for quite some time. It changes our understanding of the evolutionary process and brings up new questions -- were these animals competing for food or space ?

4. William Barr:

   It's been reported and it's my understanding that it's imminent, a number of people who are mentioned in the report are having an opportunity right now to comment on how they're quoted in the report and after that process is over, which should be very short, the report will be issued. That's what the inspector general himself has suggested.

5. Lawrence Moore:

   Given the several decades That Sanders's been in politics, I don't think that That Sanders has the relationships with our community that That Sanders should have, i'm still very impressed by That Sanders positions on issues, but many other people have had those same positions. Sometimes Sanders' supporters act like That Sanders invented the idea of universal health care. But when I was in college at the University of South Carolina, I backed Ted Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign against Jimmy Carter. I did so partly because of Kennedy's understanding that we need universal health care. And that idea had already been around before Ted Kennedy.

Images & Illustrations of understanding

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