Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Understood |
UnderstoodAdjective1. Fully apprehended as to purport or meaning or explanation; "the understood conditions of troop withdrawal were clear". 2. Indicated by necessary connotation though not expressed directly; "gave silent consent"; "a tacit agreement"; "the understood provisos of a custody agreement". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "understood" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
Synonyms: UnderstoodSynonyms: implied (adj), silent (adj), tacit (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: ununderstood (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Impulse | Adjective: habitual; accustomary; prescriptive, accustomed; Verb: of daily occurrence, of everyday occurrence; consuetudinary; wonted, usual, general, ordinary, common, frequent, everyday, household, garden variety, jog, trot; well-trodden, well-known; familiar, vernacular, trite, commonplace, conventional, regular, set, stock, established, stereotyped; prevailing, prevalent; current, received, acknowledged, recognized, accredited; of course, admitted, understood. |
Intelligibility | Easily understood, easy to understand, for the million, intelligible to the meanest capacity, popularized. |
Latency Implication | Indirect, crooked, inferential; by inference, by implication; implicit; constructive; allusive, covert, muffled; steganographic; understood, underhand, underground; delitescent, concealed. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You know, I hope he understood that (Moonlight and Valentino; writing credit: Ellen Simon) I'm sorry, Dante, I thought you understood! (Clerks.; writing credit: Kevin Smith) But I never understood really why sheshe did that, she had never screamed before (Klute; writing credit: Andy Lewis; Dave Lewis) Come to think of it, I don't think I understood what you were saying (Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo; writing credit: Arthur Alsberg; Don Nelson) They say the greatest tragedy is when a father outlives his son. I've never understood why that is; frankly, I can see an upside to it (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) | |
Lyrics | Could it be the satisfaction of bein' understood ("My Home's in Alabama"; performing artist: Alabama) If I knew I was understood (Too Little Too Late; performing artist: Barenaked Ladies) And she smiles because it's understood there are no words to say (All About Soul; performing artist: Billy Joel) You never understood that it ain't no good (Like a Rolling Stone; performing artist: Bob Dylan) 'Cause it's understood (Everybody's Talkin My Baby Down; performing artist: Dion) | |
Clever | It is impossible to overestimate the immense need that humans have to be listened to, understood, and taken seriously. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Man Who Understood Women (1959) A Woman Who Understood (1920) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | For reasons not completely understood, in some years the anti-cyclone is less powerful than normal. The weaker winds it produces fail to draw cold waters up to the ocean's surface, thus opening the way for warm, nutrient-poor tropical waters. These changes in water temperature and climatic conditions are known as "El Nino". Credit: Fisheries. |  | The value of coral reefs is understood in Aqaba, Jordan. Credit: Small World. |
 | Highly probable mistake at the forthcoming Paris Exhibition, (where it is understood the aboriginal element is to be largely represented) / JG (?). Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Dr. Samuel Johnson | Pension: in England, understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country. |
Elbert Hubbard | The supernatural is the natural not yet understood. |
George Barrington | True patriots we; for be it understood we left our country for our country's good. |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | What is not fully understood is not possessed. |
Margaret Fuller | As the principle of liberty is better understood, a broader protest is made on behalf on women. |
MoliFre | We always speak well when we manage to be understood. |
Soren Kierkegaard | Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward. |
Thomas B. Macaulay | She thoroughly understands what no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts. |
William Blake | Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed. |
William James | Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | So the thing be understood, I am indifferent as to the name. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | It is understood that due diligence will be exercised in the restoration of the destroyed mines in the Nord and the Pas de Calais. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | The advantages of Bath to the young are pretty generally understood. |
Sylvie and Bruno | Carroll, Lewis | He evidently feared that, stupid as she looked, she understood what she said this time, and was having a joke at his expense |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason why he had had such a wild and successful life that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | At those solemn words, (r)The Eternal Father in person could do nothing for you , she understood that her sentence was fixed |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | In a vague way he understood that his father was in trouble and that this was the reason why he himself had not been sent back to Clongowes |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | He understood the language of Balnibarbi, although it were different from that of his island |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The cause of BPH is not well understood. (references) | |
How hypnosis works is not fully understood. (references) | ||
The life cycle is still incompletely understood. (references) | ||
Business | The concept and the need for security and encryption systems are not yet completely understood in Mexico. (references) | |
The State Government Health Services of Tasmania and South Australia are also understood to have purchased the Exact system. (references) | ||
The journalists did not allege detention or mistreatment, but understood an implicit, potential threat to their ability to report. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Central African Republic | The constitutional provision prohibiting religious fundamentalism is understood widely to be aimed at Muslims. (references) |
Kenya | The practice of witchcraft is understood widely to encompass attempts to harm others not only by magic, but also by conventional means such as poisons. (references) | |
China | Other officials confirmed that also beginning in September, teachers at Urumqi's Xinjiang University would have to be able to teach classes in Mandarin, in addition to any other language they understood. (references) | |
Economic History | Philippines | The English language is also widely spoken and understood. (references) |
Marshall Islands | Little is clearly understood about the prehistory of the Marshall Islands. (references) | |
Indonesia | It is therefore important that any agreement be well understood by both sides. (references) | |
Human Rights | Georgia | Police misconduct reportedly was worse outside Tbilisi, where awareness of laws and citizens' rights is less understood and human rights NGO's were less active. (references) |
Botswana | It also questioned whether the accused understood their rights, the confessions they signed, or the charges against them, and noted that attempts by the men to change their court-appointed lawyers had been disregarded. (references) | |
Political Economy | Switzerland | It is understood that there will always be at least two Federal Councilors from the non-German (i.e., the French or Italian speaking) cantons. (references) |
Trade | Djibouti | It is advisable to have any label or marking in French, which is widely understood in Djibouti. (references) |
Luxembourg | Consequently, the process of paying for imported goods is well understood by banking staffs-even in the smallest regional and local branches. (references) | |
Japan | Japanese customs officials are generally very helpful explaining procedures and regulations, and once these are understood and followed, difficulties are minor and rare. (references) | |
Travel | Belgium | English is also frequently understood throughout Belgium. (references) |
Slovak Rep | Russian is widely understood but may not always be welcomed. (references) | |
Korea | Both parties must be assured the obligations spelled out in a negotiated contract are fully understood. (references) | |
Women | Pakistan | Judicial reforms begun in April with foreign funding included plans to publish laws in Urdu, which is understood by the majority of citizens; some laws had been published in Urdu as of year's end. (references) |
Australia | While it is understood that domestic violence is particularly prevalent in certain Aboriginal communities, only the states of Western Australia and Queensland have undertaken comprehensive studies into domestic violence in the Aboriginal community. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Nicaragua | Moreover, they understood that they would work only 2 extra hours. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | UBIQUITY, n. The gift or power of being in all places at one time, but not in all places at all times, which is omnipresence, an attribute of God and the luminiferous ether only. This important distinction between ubiquity and omnipresence was not clear to the mediaeval Church and there was much bloodshed about it. Certain Lutherans, who affirmed the presence everywhere of Christ's body were known as Ubiquitarians. For this error they were doubtless damned, for Christ's body is present only in the eucharist, though that sacrament may be performed in more than one place simultaneously. In recent times ubiquity has not always been understood -- not even by Sir Boyle Roche, for example, who held that a man cannot be in two places at once unless he is a bird. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Priscilla Presley | Right. So maybe now, more than ever, if there was to be anyone that understood my situation, it would be my daughter. |
Regis Philbin | Well, I was disappointed but I understood that they had nothing else, so they went with the one that was getting the homerun. And even at the cost of hurting the show, we did make a lot of money for ABC, and they did enjoy high ratings. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John Adams | 1797-1801 | This decision, it is understood, will preclude all contention among the individual claimants, as it seems that the Scoodiac and its northern branch bound the grants of land which have been made by the respective adjoining Governments. |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | How far the authority given by the Legislature for procuring and establishing sites for naval purposes has been perfectly understood and pursued in the execution admits of some doubt. |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | In making this remark I do not wish to be understood to imply that an unvaried prosperity is to be seen in every interest of this great community. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | The commissioners of the two first are understood to be now negotiating a just division of the obligations contracted by them when united under one government. |
Martin van Buren | 1837-1841 | Such attempts at dangerous agitation may periodically return, but with each the object will be better understood. |
James Buchanan | 1857-1861 | Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. |
Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | Many listened to President Truman that day here in this Chamber, but few understood what was required and did anything about it. |
Richard Nixon | 1969-1974 | Three American presidents have recognized the great stakes involved in Vietnam and understood what had to be done. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Understood" is generally used as a lexical verb (past participle) -- approximately 67.01% of the time. "Understood" is used about 4,161 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (past participle) | 67.01% | 2,788 | 3,314 |
| Lexical Verb (past tense) | 32.46% | 1,351 | 5,887 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 0.53% | 22 | 74,468 |
| Total | 100.00% | 4,161 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "understood": be understood ♦ easily understood ♦ it is understood ♦ make oneself understood ♦ not understood ♦ To make one's self understood. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "understood": understood-to-be-known. | |
Ending with "understood": half-understood, well-understood. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
miss understood | 15 |
its jack johnson lyrics understood | 4 |
understood | 4 |
between gap spoken understood | 3 |
backwards but can forward life lived must only understood | 3 |
consideration courage requires seeking seeking take understand understood | 2 |
lesson life lived must succession understood which | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "understood"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i rënë dakord. (various references) | |
Arabic | فهم (accept, apprehend, apprehension, brain, catch, comprehend, comprehension, conceive, conception, discern, discernment, grasp, hear, hear of, intelligence, know, know of, learn, learn about, make out, penetrate, perceive, perception, pick out, pierce, put across, puzzle out, realization, realize, see, see daylight, see the light, seeing, sense, skulk, sort out, take in, twig, understand, understanding), مفهوم جيدا. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разбран (accommodating), подразбран. (various references) | |
Chinese | 了解 (understand). (various references) | |
Czech | pochopený. (various references) | |
Danish | ved lunge-clearance forstaas elimineringen af indaandede partikler ved hjaelp af fimreepitelet i bronchier og traches(luftroeret) (by pulmonary clearance is understood the elimination of particles inhaled by the ciliated epithelium of the bronchi and trachea), naar denne struktur atter opvarmes,optraeder der ved en endnu ikke fuldt opklaret mekanisme rekrystallisationskim,d.v.s.at atomer fra de omgivende mosaikblokke slutter sig til kimens krystalgitter (recrystallization nuclei appear by a mechanism which is not yet clearly understood and these nuclei grow, when a structure of this kind is reheated). (various references) | |
Dutch | verstaanbaar, opgevat, begrepen. (various references) | |
Esperanto | komprenita. (various references) | |
Finnish | hänen edellytetään tulevan (it is understood that he will come). (various references) | |
French | vu, sous-entendu, entendu, comprit, comprise, comprirent, compries, comprîmes. (various references) | |
German | verstanden (roger). (various references) | |
Greek | αόρ. του understand. (various references) | |
Hungarian | megértett, hozzágondol (to understand), hozzáért (to understand), értesül (hear, to learn, to understand). (various references) | |
Italian | sottinteso (allusion, implicit meaning, implied, tacit), inteso. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 分る (to be understood). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | わかる (to be understood, to know, to understand), あ"もくのしゅ" (understood subjects), は"かい (only half understood, partial destruction, semicivilized). (various references) | |
Korean | 이해하" (Comprehended). (various references) | |
Luganda | ntegedde (I have understood). (various references) | |
Manx | toiggit (apprehended), ry hoiggal (understandable). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | erstoodunday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | implícito (constructive, tacit), entendido (adept, lying, versed). (various references) | |
Romanian | trecut şi participiu trecut de la understand, subînţeles (constructive). (various references) | |
Russian | понятый, понимать (apprehend, aprehend, catch on, comprehend, figure out, gain an insight into, get, get to know, perceive, realize, savvies, sense, take, twig, understand). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | proš. vreme i particip od understand. (various references) | |
Somali | gartay. (various references) | |
Spanish | comprendido (conceivable, included, incorporated). (various references) | |
Swedish | förstått. (various references) | |
Turkish | belli olmak (appear, be clear, be understood, shine out, show, show up), anlaşılmak (appear, be understood, come out, get across, prove, seep in, sink in). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | зрозумілий (apprehensible, clear, coherent, comprehensible, conceivable, fool-proof, intelligible, legible, lucid, natural, obvious, pellucid, perspicuous, plain, transparent, understandable), домовлений. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | constabit, constabunt, constans, constant, constantes, constantia, constat, constiterant. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Luke Chapter 2, Verse 50 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai autoi ou sunhkan to rhma o elalhsen autoiV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Et ipsi non intellexerunt verbum quod locutus est ad illos |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | þa ne ongeton hig þæt word þe he to him spræc; |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And thei vndurstoden not the word, which he spak to hem. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And they vnderstode not ye sayinge that he spake to them. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And they understood not the saying which he spoke to them. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And his words seemed strange to them. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Luke Chapter 2, Verse 50 |
| Bulgarian | А те не разбраха думата, която им рече. |
| Cebuano | Ug sila wala makasabut sa mga pulong nga iyang gisulti kanila. |
| Chinese | 他 所 說 的 這 話 、 他 們 不 明 白 。 |
| Croatian | Oni ne razumješe rijeèi koju im reèe. |
| Danish | Og de forstode ikke det Ord, som han talte til dem. |
| Dutch | En zij verstonden het woord niet, dat Hij tot hen sprak. |
| Finnish | Mutta he eivät ymmärtäneet sitä sanaa, jonka hän heille puhui. |
| French | Mais ils ne comprirent pas ce qu`il leur disait. |
| German | Und sie verstanden das Wort nicht, das er mit ihnen redete. |
| Haitian Creole | Men yo pa t' konprann sa l' t'ap di yo. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Tetapi mereka tidak mengerti jawaban Yesus. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Tetapi ibu bapa-Nya tiada paham akan perkataan yang dikatakan-Nya itu. |
| Italian | Ma essi non compresero le sue parole. |
| Manx Gaelic | As cha row toiggyl oc jeh'n raa loayr eh roo. |
| Maori | Heoi kihai raua i matau ki te kupu i korerotia ra e ia ki a raua. |
| Norwegian | Men de forstod ikke det ord han talte til dem. |
| Portuguese | Eles, porém, não entenderam as palavras que lhes dissera. |
| Rumanian | Dar ei n`au knyeles spusele Lui. |
| Shuar | Tura timia Núnaka penké nekaacharmiayi. |
| Swahili | Lakini wazazi wake hawakuelewa maana ya maneno aliyowaambia. |
| Swedish | Men de förstodo icke det som han talade till dem. |
| Uma | Tapi' uma rapaha batua lolita-na. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words ending with "understood": misunderstood. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "understood" (pronounced u'nderstuh"d) |
| 7 | -n d er s t uh" d | misunderstood. |
| 4 | -s t uh" d | stood, withstood. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-d-e-n-o-o-r-s-t-u" | |
-1 letter: outsnored, tournedos. | |
-2 letters: duotones, durndest, outdoers, outsnore, redounds, roundest, stounded, tonsured, unrooted, unsorted. | |
-3 letters: detours, dourest, duotone, enduros, enroots, nodders, onerous, orotund, outdoer, outdoes, outdone, outrode, redound, redouts, resound, rodents, roosted, rounded, rousted, snooded, snooted, snorted, snouted, sounded, sounder, tenours, tonsure, trodden, underdo, undoers, undrest, unroots. | |
-4 letters: detour, dodoes, donors, donuts, doters, doused, douser. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-d-e-n-o-o-r-s-t-u" | |
+3 letters: misunderstood. | |
+4 letters: gastroduodenal, overdiscounted. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Spoken 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Bible Trace 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
