Understandings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The ability to grasp the meaning or significance of something ; a negotiated agreement or arrangement between parties
2. The mental process of making sense of information or situations ; a mutual commitment or informal pact between individuals or groups
3. The awareness and interpretation of facts or ideas ; an accord reached by consensus without formal contract

Etymology: The plural "understandings" is simply the plural of "understanding," and the noun has a surprisingly literal ancestry. Its Proto-Germanic root, *understandaną, meant "to stand between" or "to intercede," so the earliest sense of standing among people to mediate or step into a dispute is still visible in the older forms. Over time the idea of standing between two parties shifted into grasping what lies beneath a matter, which is how "understand" came to mean comprehension. The noun passed through Old English "understanding," meaning intelligence or comprehension, and then Middle English forms that show the word was often shaped by its present participle ending, "-ande" or "-ynge." Cognates survive in Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, and Middle High German, all carrying the same sense of mental grasp. The plural form picks up the second meaning in the definition: an informal accord reached without a written contract. That usage grows naturally from the older notion of standing between parties to reconcile them, so an "understanding" between two people is a settlement they have reached by agreement rather than by signature.

Synonyms: comprehensions, insights, grasp, awareness, knowledge

Antonyms: misunderstandings, ignorance, confusion, misinterpretations, unawareness