understanding

²understanding

adj

Definition of UNDERSTANDING

1

archaic : knowing, intelligent

2

: endowed with understanding : tolerant, sympathetic <an understanding supervisor>

— un·der·stand·ing·ly \-ˈstan-diŋ-lē\ adverb

Examples of UNDERSTANDING

1. <a kind and understanding teacher who often helps troubled students>

First Known Use of UNDERSTANDING

13th century

Related to UNDERSTANDING

Synonyms: commiserative, compassionate, empathetic, empathic, humane, sympathetic

Antonyms: callous, cold-blooded, coldhearted, hard, hard-hearted, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, obdurate, unfeeling, unsympathetic

Related Words: feeling, perceptive, sensitive; considerate, gentle, softhearted, tender, tenderhearted, warm, warmhearted; benevolent, benignant, bighearted, charitable, kind, kindhearted, kindly, largehearted, magnanimous; clement, lenient, merciful, tolerant; pitying, ruthful; congenial, cordial, friendly, genial, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, well-disposed; affectionate, loving

Near Antonyms: inconsiderate, insensitive, thoughtless, unthinking; aloof, cool, indifferent, uncaring, uninterested; unaffectionate, unfriendly, unloving; merciless, pitiless, ruthless; bigoted, blinkered, narrow-minded, small-minded; brutal, grim, hard-bitten, hard-boiled, harsh, oppressive, rough, severe, stern, tough, ungentle, unrelenting; abusive, acrimonious, disagreeable, hateful, hostile, ill-natured, ill-tempered, malevolent, malicious, mean, rancorous, spiteful, surly, unkind, virulent

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