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Follow vs Understand - What's the difference?

follow | understand |

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)
  • To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction.
  • To go or come after in a sequence.
  • We both ordered the soup, with roast beef to follow .
  • 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
  • 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) ensue

    Antonyms

    * (go after in a physical space) guide, lead * (go after in a sequence) precede

    Derived 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 follow

    See also

    * chase

    Statistics

    *

    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