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Understand vs Experience - What's the difference?

understand | experience |

In transitive terms the difference between understand and experience

is that understand is to be aware of the meaning of while experience is to observe certain events; undergo a certain feeling or process; or perform certain actions that may alter one or contribute to one's knowledge, opinions, or skills.

As a noun experience is

event(s) of which one is cognizant.

understand

English

Alternative forms

* understaund (obsolete)

Verb

  • (lb) To be aware of the meaning of.
  • :
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:I understand not what you mean by this.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}
  • To believe, based on information.
  • :
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.
  • To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.
  • :
  • :In this sense, the word is usually used in the past participle:
  • ::
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel.
  • *
  • *:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  • To stand under; to support.
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • Usage notes

    * Common objects of this verb include text'', ''word(s)'', ''sentence(s)'', ''note(s) , etc. * Rarely, the obsolete past tense form understanded'' may be found, e.g. in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and ''Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church .

    Synonyms

    * (to know the meaning) apprehend, comprehend, grasp, know, perceive, pick up what someone is putting down, realise, grok * (to believe) believe

    Antonyms

    * misunderstand

    Derived terms

    * I don’t understand * understandable * understanding * understood

    See also

    * explain * why

    experience

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Event(s) of which one is cognizant.
  • (label) An activity which one has performed.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=“I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. …”}}
  • (label) A collection of events and/or activities from which an individual or group may gather knowledge, opinions, and skills.
  • (label) The knowledge thus gathered.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "experience": broad, wide, good, bad, great, amazing, horrible, terrible, pleasant, unpleasant, educational, financial, military, commercial, academic, political, industrial, sexual, romantic, religious, mystical, spiritual, psychedelic, scientific, human, magical, intense, deep, humbling, unforgettable, unique, exciting, exhilarating.

    Antonyms

    * inexperience

    Derived terms

    * experiential * experience points * experienced

    Verb

    (experienc)
  • To observe certain events; undergo a certain feeling or process; or perform certain actions that may alter one or contribute to one's knowledge, opinions, or skills.
  • Derived terms

    * experienceable