un·der·stand·ing / ˌəndərˈstanding/ • n. the ability to understand something; comprehension: foreign visitors with little understanding of English. ∎  the power of abstract thought; intellect: a child of sufficient intelligence and understanding. ∎  an individual's perception or judgment of a situation: my understanding was that he would try to find a new supplier. ∎  sympathetic awareness or tolerance: a problem that needs to be handled with understanding. ∎  an informal or unspoken agreement or arrangement: he and I have an understanding he had only been allowed to come on the understanding that he would be on his best behavior.• adj. 1. sympathetically aware of other people's feelings; tolerant and forgiving: people expect their doctor to be understanding. 2. archaic having insight or good judgment.DERIVATIVES: un·der·stand·ing·ly adv.

comprehension. The Elizabethan religious settlement attempted to comprehend all from catholic to Calvinist under cover of liturgical uniformity, royal supremacy, episcopacy, and the Thirty-Nine Articles. Excepting recusants, this was largely successful until after the Interregnum, the sectarians' heyday. By failing to achieve comprehension through modified episcopacy, the Savoy conference of 1661 ended in schism—the exclusion of 936 non-episcopalians from their livings. Further attempts to include sectaries within the church through comprehension bills (1668, 1678, 1689) failed, for most bishops, including Sheldon and Sancroft, stood by the Clarendon code. It was, for Tories, unthinkable to have a national church with sectaries outside. Despite the loss of 18th-cent. methodists, later archbishops have prevented further schism by retaining within tighter boundaries evangelicals, liberals, Anglo-catholics, and, more recently, opponents of women's ordination. Plurality of belief within defined limits of creeds, episcopacy, Scripture, and sacraments is a hallmark of Anglicanism.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

405. Understanding

See also 233. KNOWLEDGE ; 240. LEARNING ; 309. PERCEPTION ; 312. PHILOSOPHY ; 393. THINKING .

dysphasia

an impaired state of the power of speech or of the ability to comprehend language, caused by injury to the brain.

empathy

the power of entering into another’s personality and imaginatively experiencing his feelings. —empathie, adj.

epexegesis

an additional explanation; the use of more words to clarify further. —epexegetic, epexegetical, adj.

noology

the science of intuition and reason as phenomena of the mind. —noological, adj.

com·pre·hen·sion / ˌkämpriˈhenchən/ • n. 1. the action or capability of understanding something.2. archaic inclusion.

UNDERSTANDING

A general term referring to an agreement, either express or implied, written or oral.

The term understanding is an ambiguous one; in order to determine whether a particular understanding would constitute a contract that is legally binding on the parties involved, the circumstances must be examined to discover whether a meeting of the minds and an intent to be bound occurred.

cross-references

Meeting of Minds.