Understanding

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ʌndəˈstandɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The mental process of interpreting or making sense of facts or ideas ; a situation in which parties reach a common interpretation or arrangement ; the sensitivity to perceive and relate to others' emotional states
2. The ability to grasp the meaning or significance of information or concepts ; an informal agreement or mutual acknowledgment between individuals or groups ; the capacity to empathize with and appreciate others' feelings and perspectives
3. A cognitive skill involving the comprehension of knowledge and ideas ; an unspoken or explicit accord reached between people ; the faculty to recognize and sympathize with the emotions and situations of others

Etymology: The verb "understand" once meant something quite physical: in Old English, "understandan" could mean to stand under or among, and the older Proto-Germanic sense was "to stand between" or "intercede." So the noun that grew from it carried a literal notion of standing beneath something before it came to mean grasping an idea. The Old English form "understanding" meant "intelligence" or "understanding" in the mental sense, and it passed into Middle English with that meaning intact. The word has two parallel strands in its history. One traces to a noun-forming suffix added to the verb, the gerund ending "-ing," which turned the act of understanding into a thing that could be possessed. The other strand comes from a present-participle form of the same verb, which may explain how the word could also carry the sense of an agreement between people. Early English speakers used the word to describe a mutual accord as well as a private mental grasp, and that double sense survives in modern usage, where "understanding" can mean knowledge or a shared arrangement.

Synonyms: comprehension, grasp, apprehension, insight, awareness

Antonyms: misunderstanding, ignorance, confusion, incomprehension, unawareness