understandable

2196

understandable /^nda'staendabl; NAmE -dar's-/ adj. 1 (of behaviour, feelings, reactions, etc.     [j§1f\

fx.)S#) seeming normal and reasonable in a particular situation £ 1f S , iE "f ift ; ^ S      SCI

natural : Their attitude is perfectly understandable.

Wo O It was an understand­able mistake to make. UP M—■T IfM Rf Ht A M „ 2 (of language, documents, etc. i#     easy to under­

stand Hff &'j BQEl comprehensible: Warning notices must be readily understandable. H #. ^ X X M Bj| S

under stand abiy /.Anda'staendabli; NAmE -dar's-/ odv. in a way that seems normal and reasonable in a particular situation nJlU a ft?    'If Mffe

ETiTI naturally : They were understandably disap­pointed with the result. #,flXtMXMi oJlU31 ft?lfto

understand ing Ch* ^Anda'staendir); NAmE -dar's-/ noun, adj.

mnoun 1 [U, sing.] ~ (of sth) the knowledge that sb has about a particular subject or situation a ft?; ■§£      ; T

II: The committee has little or no understanding of the problem, ^          B7^U77J B. o

The existence of God is beyond human understanding (= humans cannot know whether God exists or not).

Ammmmmtto 2 [C, usually sing.] an informal agreement (  ) tHJX We finally

came to an understanding about what hours we would work,        owe

have this understanding that nobody talks about work over lunch.

3 [U, sing.] the ability to understand why people behave in a particular way and the willingness to forgive them when they do sth wrong MB', ip,B; We must

tackle the problem with sympathy and understanding.

0 We are

looking for a better understanding between the two nations. ffc d IE,4  ^ M IS |h] W ift TB „ 4 [U, C]

~ (of sth) the particular way in which sb understands sth aB; #        ; B W; ’ .jlf % ESd interpretation :

My understanding of the situation is ...

SYNONYMS

understand

see ♦ get ♦ follow ♦ grasp ♦ comprehend

All these words mean to know or realize sth, for example why sth happens, how sth works or what sth means. aft?, iXmiZX,

understand to know or realize the meaning of words, a language, what sb says, etc.; to know or realize how or why sth happens, how it works or why it is important

fm. M.B, (ift. iff; 1 ■ fB, iX

m<\.  mmw-fSskm

Mil# ) : / don’t understand the instructions. •fJt'X'H o Doctors still don’t understand much about the disease. AT ft?,,

see to understand what is happening, what sb is saying, how sth works or how important sth is in MB,

) : ‘It opens like this.’ ‘Oh, I see.’

JfT0 ” “ Ufe, IJc HJj £} T o " o Oh yes, I see what you mean. w£, mitiVmMMTc get (informal) to understand a joke, what sb is trying to tell you, or a situation that they are trying to describe

mm,

U ) : She didn’t get the joke. ^PjfAtlSP't'^iS'o o I don’t get you. }lTiTTTMjTT#;iS0 follow to understand an explanation, a story or the meaning of sth jf aft?, Bjffi ( i&Bfh tkB, MM): Sorry—I don’t quite follow. MFM,

o The plot is almost impossible to follow.  f/L-f-

^x.^mm$xa

H • ■ • o The statement is open to various understandings.

B on the under­standing that ... (formal) used to introduce a condition that must be agreed before sth else can happen JH : They agreed to the changes on the understanding that they would be introduced gradually. #d|]

■ adj. showing sympathy for other people’s problems and being willing to forgive them when they do sth wrong

#ft¥Ajgcitt; gWI^IlfXlft; frifAltt BE] sympa­thetic: She has very understanding parents.

ami.

understate /.Anda'steit; NAmE -dar's-/ verb [VN] to state that sth is smaller, less important or less serious than it really v&T&WiXM; MWXXPi-Mifl: It would be a mistake to understate the seriousness of the problem.

E23 OVERSTATE

understated /.Anda'steitid; NAmE -dar's-/ adj. (approving) if a style, colour, etc. is understated, it is pleasing and elegant in a way that is not too obvious «lft; tW; mm®-, TXt#l£l Bdsubtle understatement /'Andasteitmant; NAmE -dars-/ noun 1 [C] a statement that makes sth seem less important, impressive, serious, etc. than it really is  sfi

: To say we were pleased is an understate­ment (= we were extremely pleased). IH tti A, UP Uk $£ tfc 'A o <> ‘These figures are a bit disappointing. ’ ‘That’s got to be the understatement of the year. ’ “ &

*m7-f4Sx^x%:W.0 ”

To” 2 [U] the practice of making things seem less impressive, important, serious, etc. than they really are iXVc,          typical English understatement pLMW)

O He always goes for subtlety and under­statement in his movies. ffej&Ji-fi i

H5H OVERSTATEMENT

understood pt, pp of understand under-study /'AndastAdi; NAmE -dars-/ noun, verb m noun (pi. -ies) ~ (to sb) an actor who learns the part of another actor in a play so that they can play that part if necessary

uverb (under-studies, under-studying, under-studied, under-stud-ied) [VN], to learn a part in a play as an

grasp to come to understand a fact, an idea or how to

dosth^aft?, mm,

M ) : They failed to grasp the importance of his words.

UNDERSTAND OR GRASP?       understand grasp ?

You can use understand or grasp for the action of realizing the meaning or importance of sth for the first time.       understand

gSc grasp: It’s a difficult concept for children to understand/grasp.

Only understand can be used to talk about languages, words or writing. M?f understand pJ If] TM. BwW,      I don't grasp French/the

instructions.

comprehend (often used in negative statements) (formal) to understand a fact, idea or reason (

) m-T-aft?. mm, bj^ < mm, s&sjc®

IS ) : The concept of infinity is almost impossible for the human mind to comprehend. AST&UM# JIT A A

PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS

■                  to understand/see/get/follow/grasp/comprehend what/why/how ...

■                  to understand/see/grasp/comprehend that...

■                  to be easy/difficult/hard to understand/see/follow/ grasp/comprehend

■                  to fully/completely understand/see/grasp/ comprehend sth

to understand/see/get/grasp the point/idea (of sth)