Describe vs Understand - What's the difference?
describe | understand |
(label) To represent in words.
* November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, "
*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=
(label) To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out.
* 1826 , (James Fenimore Cooper), (The Last of the Mohicans)
To give rise to a geometrical structure.
To reveal a new species by scientifically explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other species.
(label) To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class.
* Bible, (w) xviii. 9
(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)
In transitive terms the difference between describe and understand
is that describe is to represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out while understand is to be aware of the meaning of.describe
English
Verb
(describ)Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
- Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.
- Uncas described an arc in the water with his own blade, and as the canoe passed swiftly on, Chingachgook recovered his paddle, and flourishing it on high, he gave the war-whoop of the Mohicans.
- Passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book.
Synonyms
* (to represent in words) portray, betell, depict, report * (to represent in writing) bewriteExternal links
* * ----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.
