Verb

Infinitive to understand

Third person singular understands

Simple past understood

Past participle understood

Present participle understanding

to understand (third-person singular simple present understands, present participle understanding, simple past and past participle understood)

1. (transitive) To be aware of the meaning of.

   I understand German.

   I received your note, but I did not understand it.

2. To believe, based on information.

   I understand that you have information for me.

3. To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.

   But we cannot disappoint Grandma and Grandpa Smith, and that is what family is all about! Do you understand?!

   In this sense, the word is usually used in the past participle:

   In the imperative mood, the word “you” is usually understood.

4. To apply values (axioms).

Understanding (also called intellection) 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.

An understanding is the limit of a conceptualisation. To understand something is to have conceptualised it to a given measure.

Examples

1. One understands the weather if one is able to predict and to give an explanation of some of its features, etc.
2. A psychiatrist understands another person's anxieties if he/she knows that person's anxieties, their causes, and can give useful advice on how to cope with the anxiety.
3. A person understands a command if he/she knows who gave it, what is expected by the issuer, and whether the command is legitimate, and whether one understands the speaker (see 4).
4. One understands a reasoning, an argument, or a language if one can consciously reproduce the information content conveyed by the message.
5. One understands a mathematical concept if one can solve problems using it, especially problems that are not similar to what one has seen before.