- past participle of understand.
- past tense form of understand.
understood
Americanverb
adjective
-
agreed upon; known in advance; assented to.
It is the understood policy of this establishment to limit credit.
-
implied but not stated; left unexpressed.
The understood meaning of a danger sign is “Do not approach.”
verb
adjective
-
implied or inferred
-
taken for granted; assumed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of understood
First recorded in 1600–10, for the adjective
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The military has also historically understood something Hegseth apparently does not: Morale does not come from pretending everything is fine.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
“She did something so economically irrational and inexplicable that it would make no sense other than when understood in the context of defendants’ scheme,” the filing stated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
"At the time, they understood that they had paid an administrative fine equivalent to approximately £40 and that the matter had concluded."
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
For most of the species included in the analysis, the researchers found that human impacts could not be fully understood by looking at landscape modification alone.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
As for Major Puff, the description of Twitch’s attacker was clearly understood.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
