understanding

understanding

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌndəˈstandɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌʌndɚˈstændɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ændɪŋ
• Hyphenation: un‧der‧stand‧ing

Noun

understanding (countable and uncountable, plural understandings) (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.
   • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.

   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; 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.

Derived terms

• innerstanding
• peace that passeth understanding

 

Translations

understanding — see grasp

mental process of comprehension, assimilation of knowledge, subjective by its nature

Arabic: فَهْم‎ (ar) m (fahm) Azerbaijani: fəhm, anlayış (az) Belarusian: разуме́нне n (razumjénnje) Bulgarian: разби́ране (bg) n (razbírane), споразуме́ние (bg) n (sporazuménie) Chinese: Mandarin: 理解 (zh) (lǐjiě), 了解 (zh) (liǎojiě), 明白 (zh) (míngbai) Czech: porozumění (cs) n Danish: forståelse c Esperanto: intelekto Estonian: mõistmine Finnish: ymmärrys (fi), ymmärtäminen (fi), käsittäminen (fi) French: compréhension (fr) f Galician: comprensión (gl) f Georgian: გაგება (gageba) German: Verstehen n, Verständnis (de) n Greek: κατανόηση (el) f (katanóisi) Hebrew: הֲבָנָה‎ (he) f (havaná) Hungarian: megértés (hu), belátás (hu), felfogás (hu) Italian: comprensione (it) Japanese: 理解 (ja) (りかい, rikai) Korean: 이해(理解) (ko) (ihae), 리해(理解) (ko) (rihae) (North Korea), 요해(了解) (ko) (yohae), 료해(了解) (ko) (ryohae) (North Korea) Macedonian: разбирање n (razbiranje) Maori: māramatanga Mongolian: ойлголт (mn) (ojlgolt) Old English: witt n Persian: فهم‎ (fa) (fahm) Polish: zrozumienie (pl) n, pojmowanie (pl) n Portuguese: compreensão (pt) f, entendimento (pt) m Romanian: comprehensiune (ro) f Russian: понима́ние (ru) n (ponimánije), разуме́ние (ru) n (razuménije) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: разумевање n Roman: razumevanje (sh) n Slovak: porozumenie n Slovene: razumevanje n Spanish: comprensión (es) f Swedish: förståelse (sv) c Tajik: фаҳм (tg) (fahm) Tok Pisin: save (tpi) Turkish: anlayış (tr) Ugaritic: 𐎁𐎊𐎐𐎚 (bynt) Ukrainian: розумі́ння (uk) n (rozumínnja), зрозумі́ння n (zrozumínnja) Vietnamese: sự hiểu (vi)

ability to grasp the full meaning of knowledge, ability to infer

Bulgarian: разбиране (bg) n (razbirane) Danish: forstand c, forståelse c Finnish: käsityskyky (fi) (ability to grasp the full meaning of knowledge); päättelykyky (ability to infer) French: compréhension (fr) f Galician: entendemento (gl) m Georgian: გაგება (gageba), ჩაწვდომა (čac̣vdoma) Greek: κατανόηση (el) f (katanóisi), νοημοσύνη (el) f (noïmosýni) Portuguese: compreensão (pt) f Russian: понима́ние (ru) n (ponimánije) Spanish: comprensión (es) f Swedish: förståelse (sv) c

opinion, judgement or outlook

Arabic: رُؤْيَة‎ f (ruʾya) Bulgarian: схващане (bg) n (shvaštane) Danish: forståelse c Finnish: näkökulma (fi), näkemys (fi), käsitys (fi) German: Verständnis (de) n Hungarian: megítélés (hu) Portuguese: entendimento (pt) m Spanish: comprensión (es) f

informal contract, mutual agreement

Arabic: تَفَاهُم‎ m (tafāhum) Bulgarian: съгласие (bg) n (sǎglasie) Czech: dohoda (cs) f Danish: aftale (da) c, forståelse c Dutch: overeenkomst (nl), verstandhouding (nl) Finnish: yhteisymmärrys (fi) German: Vereinbarung (de) f Greek: συνεννόηση (el) f (synennóisi) Hungarian: megállapodás (hu), megegyezés (hu), egyezség (hu) Luhya: kamasikisano Portuguese: entendimento (pt) m Scottish Gaelic: còrdadh m, aontachadh m Spanish: compromiso (es) m Swahili: masikizano Swedish: överenskommelse (sv) c Tocharian B: plāksar

reconciliation of differences

Finnish: sovinto (fi) German: Einigung (de) f Greek: συνεννόηση (el) f (synennóisi) Scottish Gaelic: aontachadh m, còrdadh m Spanish: avenimiento m

sympathy

Czech: pochopení (cs) n, porozumění (cs) n Danish: forståelse c Finnish: myötätunto (fi), ymmärrys (fi) French: compréhension (fr) f German: Verständnis (de) n Greek: κατανόηση (el) f (katanóisi) Hungarian: megértés (hu), együttérzés (hu) Polish: wyrozumiałość (pl) f Spanish: comprensión (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: (please verify) begrijpen (nl) f French: (please verify) compréhension (fr) f German: (please verify) Verstehen, (please verify) Verständnis (de) Hebrew: (please verify) הבנה (havana)‎ f Kurdish: Central Kurdish: (please verify) تێگەیشتن‎ (têgeyiştin)

See also

• intellection

Adjective

understanding (comparative more understanding, superlative most understanding)

1. Showing compassion, tolerance, and forbearance.
2. (dated) Knowing; skilful.

Translations

showing compassion

Arabic: فهم‎ (ar) Bulgarian: отзивчив (bg) (otzivčiv) Catalan: comprensiu (ca) Danish: forstående Dutch: begripvol (nl) Finnish: ymmärtäväinen (fi), myötätuntoinen (fi) German: verständnisvoll (de) Gujarati: સમજદાર (samajdār) Hebrew: מגלה הבנה (megale/megala havana) Hungarian: megértő (hu) Japanese: 納得 (ja) (なっとく, nattoku) Latin: sciens (la), intellegens, videns (la), capiens (la) Polish: wyrozumiały (pl) Portuguese: compreensivo (pt) Romanian: înțelegător (ro) Spanish: comprensivo (es) Swedish: förstående (sv)

knowing, skilful

Bulgarian: схватлив (bg) (shvatliv) Maori: aweko

Verb

understanding

1. present participle of understand
   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […];  […]; or perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.