understand

verb

ADVERB

▪ clearly, well

▪ completely, fully, perfectly, quite, thoroughly, totally, truly

▪

I fully understand the reason for your decision.

▪ better

▪

These categories help us to better understand our readers.

▪ not really, not truly

▪

Her actions wounded him in a way he did not really understand.

▪ not necessarily

▪

They won't necessarily understand the pros and cons of the matter.

▪ not entirely, partially

▪

a complex topic which I only partially understand

▪ barely, hardly

▪

I could barely understand a word of his story.

▪ adequately

▪ accurately, correctly, precisely, properly, rightly

▪

If I've understood you correctly … 

▪ easily, readily

▪

The reasons for this decision are not easily understood.

▪ immediately, instantly, quickly, suddenly

▪

The girl understands immediately and promises to be more careful.

▪ finally

▪

I finally understood what she meant.

▪ instinctively, intuitively

▪

She intuitively understood his need to be alone.

VERB + UNDERSTAND

▪ be able to, can

▪

I can't understand what all the fuss is about.

▪ be unable to, fail to

▪ attempt to, hope to, seek to, strive to, try to

▪

Only specialists can hope to understand them.

▪ struggle to

▪

a woman struggling to understand an incomprehensible situation

▪ help (to), help sb (to)

▪ begin to, start to

▪ come to, learn to

▪

We came to understand why certain things happened in certain ways.

▪

She soon learnt to understand English.

▪ appear to, seem to

▪ claim to

▪

I don't claim to understand it.

▪ be easy to, be simple to

▪ be difficult to, be hard to

▪

It is difficult to understand why he reacted in that way.

PREPOSITION

▪ about

▪

We understand little about this disease.

▪ as

▪

These beliefs are best understood as a form of escapism.

PHRASES

▪ be commonly understood, be generally understood, be popularly understood

▪

What is generally understood by ‘democracy’?

▪ be imperfectly understood, be incompletely understood, be poorly understood

▪

The effects of these chemicals on the body are still poorly understood.

▪ be universally understood, be widely understood

Understand is used with these nouns as the object: ↑basics, ↑business, ↑cause, ↑complexity, ↑concept, ↑concern, ↑culture, ↑danger, ↑difference, ↑distinction, ↑enormity, ↑essence, ↑extent, ↑feeling, ↑frustration, ↑fundamentals, ↑gist, ↑gravity, ↑grief, ↑impact, ↑implication, ↑importance, ↑influence, ↑instruction, ↑intricacy, ↑issue, ↑joke, ↑language, ↑limitation, ↑logic, ↑magnitude, ↑meaning, ↑mind, ↑motivation, ↑motive, ↑mystery, ↑nature, ↑necessity, ↑need, ↑nuance, ↑phenomenon, ↑plight, ↑point, ↑point of view, ↑politics, ↑predicament, ↑problem, ↑reality, ↑reason, ↑reasoning, ↑reference, ↑relationship, ↑reluctance, ↑risk, ↑role, ↑rule, ↑science, ↑sentiment, ↑seriousness, ↑significance, ↑situation, ↑subtlety, ↑symbol, ↑symbolism, ↑system, ↑technicality, ↑terminology, ↑text, ↑value, ↑viewpoint, ↑word, ↑workings