understanding

CEFRB1

/ʌndəˈstandɪŋ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Knowledge of a subject or situation.

  2. 02

    noun

    A shared agreement or friendly arrangement.

Examples

  • Students will gain a broad understanding of the workings of Parliament.

  • We must sow the seeds of mutual understanding.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˌʌndɚˈstændɪŋ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Opinion, judgement, or outlook.

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

  3. The act of one that understands or comprehends; the mental process of discernment of meaning.

More examples

In context

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

  • She has a solid understanding of particle physics.

  • There are certain things that defy human understanding.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

During the lecture, she demonstrated a deep blank of the difficult topic.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English understandinge, understondinge, from Old English understanding (“intelligence, understanding”), from Proto-West Germanic *undarstandingu, from Proto-Germanic *understandingō, equivalent to understand + -ing (gerund ending). Cognate with Middle Dutch onderstaninge, Middle Low German understandinge, Middle High German understandunge.