Follow vs Understand - What's the difference?
follow | understand |
To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction.
To go or come after in a sequence.
To carry out (orders, instructions, etc.).
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track.
To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc).
To understand, to pay attention to.
To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person.
To be a logical consequence of.
To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.
* Shakespeare
(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=
, volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= To believe, based on information.
:
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=Foreword 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)
Understand is a synonym of follow.
In transitive terms the difference between follow and understand
is that follow is to walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling while understand is to be aware of the meaning of.follow
English
Verb
(en verb)- We both ordered the soup, with roast beef to follow .
- O, had I but followed the arts!
Synonyms
* (go after in a physical space) trail, tail * (in a sequence) succeed * (carry out) pursue * (be a consequence) ensueAntonyms
* (go after in a physical space) guide, lead * (go after in a sequence) precedeDerived terms
* followable * follow along * followed by * follower * following * follow in someone's footsteps * follow on * follow out * follow shot * follow suit * follow someone off a cliff * follow the leader/follow-the-leader * follow the queen * follow through * follow-through * follow up * follow-up * hard act to follow * soon to follow * tough act to followSee also
* chaseStatistics
*understand
English
Alternative forms
* understaund (obsolete)Verb
Sam Leith
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.}}
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.