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Seize vs Understand - What's the difference?

seize | understand | Related terms |

Seize is a related term of understand.


As verbs the difference between seize and understand

is that seize is to deliberately take hold of; to grab or capture while understand is (lb) to be aware of the meaning of.

seize

English

Verb

(seiz)
  • to deliberately take hold of; to grab or capture
  • to take advantage of (an opportunity or circumstance)
  • to take possession of (by force, law etc.)
  • to seize smuggled goods
    to seize a ship after libeling
  • to have a sudden and powerful effect upon
  • a panic seized the crowd
    a fever seized him
  • (nautical) to bind, lash or make fast, with several turns of small rope, cord, or small line
  • to seize two fish-hooks back to back
    to seize or stop one rope on to another
  • (obsolete) to fasten, fix
  • to lay hold in seizure, by hands or claws (+ on or upon)
  • to seize on the neck of a horse
    The text which had seized upon his heart with such comfort and strength abode upon him for more than a year.'' (''Southey , Bunyan, p. 21)
  • to have a seizure
  • * 2012 , Daniel M. Avery, Tales of a Country Obstetrician
  • Nearing what she thought was a climax, he started seizing and fell off her. Later, realizing he was dead, she became alarmed and dragged the body to his vehicle to make it look like he had died in his truck.
  • to bind or lock in position immovably; see also seize up
  • Rust caused the engine to seize , never to run again.
  • (UK) to submit for consideration to a deliberative body.
  • Derived terms

    * be seized of, be seized with * seizable * seize the day * seize on, seize upon * seize up * seizer * seizor

    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