different between understand vs upstand

English

Alternative forms

• understaund (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English understanden, from Old English understandan (“to understand”), from Proto-Germanic *under (“between”) + *standan? (“to stand”), equivalent to Old English under- (“between, inter-”) + standan (“to stand”). Cognate with Old Frisian understonda (“to understand, experience, learn”), Old High German understantan (“to understand”), Middle Danish understande (“to understand”). Compare also Saterland Frisian understunda, unnerstounde (“to dare, survey, measure”), Dutch onderstaan (“to undertake, presume”), German unterstehen (“to be subordinate”). More at inter-, stand.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ?n(?)d?r-st?nd', IPA^(key): /(?)?nd??stænd/,
• (General American) enPR: ?n?d?r-st?nd', IPA^(key): /??nd??stænd/, [??????stænd], [??????ste??nd]
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /??nd???stand/
• Rhymes: -ænd
• Hyphenation: un?der?stand

Verb

understand (third-person singular simple present understands, present participle understanding, simple past and past participle understood)

1. (transitive) To grasp a concept fully and thoroughly, especially (of words, statements, art, etc.) to be aware of the meaning of and (of people) to be aware of the intent of.
   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 20:

     ‘I came back here, had a wank and finished that book.’
     ‘The Naked Lunch?’
     ‘Yeah.’
     ‘What did you reckon?’
     ‘Crap.’
     ‘You're just saying that because you didn't understand it,’ said Adrian.
     ‘I'm just saying that because I did understand it,’ said Tom. ‘Any road up, we'd better start making some toast.’

2. To believe, to think one grasps sufficiently despite potentially incomplete knowledge.

3. (humorous, rare, obsolete outside circus, acrobatics) To stand underneath, to support.

Usage notes

• In its sense of "imputing meaning", use is usually limited to the past participle understood.
• The obsolete perfect form understanded is occasionally found, e.g. in the Book of Common Prayer and the 39 Articles of the Anglican Church.

Synonyms

• (to fully grasp a concept): apprehend, comprehend, grasp, know, perceive, pick up what someone is putting down, realise, grok
• (to believe one grasps a concept): believe

Antonyms

• misunderstand

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• explain
• why

Further reading

• understand in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• understand in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• unstranded

English

Etymology

From Middle English upstanden, equivalent to up- +? stand. Cognate with Dutch opstaan (“to rise, stand up”), German aufstehen (“to arise, get up, stand up”), Swedish uppstå (“to arise, emerge, come up”).

Verb

upstand (third-person singular simple present upstands, present participle upstanding, simple past and past participle upstood)

1. (intransitive) To stand up; arise; be erect; rise.
   • 1820, Homer, William Cowper, The Iliad of Homer: translated into English blank verse, with notes:

     At once, upstood the monarch, and upstood / The wise Ulysses.

   • 1912, United States. Patent Office, Official gazette of the United States Patent Office: Volume 174:

     The combination with a closet seat, of a flexible mat having sockets, plates secured upon the seat and having recesses, and a standard pivoted upon each plate and fold- able to lie in the respective socket or to upstand from the seat, […]

   • 2010, Lonnie R. Sherrod, Judith Torney-Purta, Constance A. Flanagan, Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth:

     Put differently, attention to norms and rules did not increase the likelihood that a student would choose to upstand or intervene. Students who were more likely to recommend direct support for the victim (choosing to upstand), however, […]

Related terms

• upstanding

Translations

Noun

upstand (plural upstands)

1. (construction, plumbing) A section of a roof covering or flashing which turns up against a vertical surface.

Synonyms

• upturn

Translations

Adjective

upstand (not comparable)

1. (construction) (of a beam) Having its top surface above the slab with which it integrates; "an upstand beam".

Antonyms

• downstand
• downhang

Anagrams

• dustpan, stand up, stand-up, standup