Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

under|sized /ʌ ndə ^r sa I zd/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] Undersized people or things are smaller than usual, or smaller than they should be. □  …undersized and underweight babies. □  They squashed into an undersized reception room. □  He was undersized, as were all the local children I was to meet.

under|spend /ʌ ndə ^r spend/ (underspends , underspending , underspent ) VERB If an organization or country underspends , it spends less money than it plans to or less money than it can afford. □ [V + on ] …a country that underspends on health and overspends on statisticians. [Also V n] ● N‑COUNT Underspend is also a noun. □ [+ in ] There has been an underspend in the department's budget. [Also + on ]

under|staffed /ʌ ndə ^r stɑː ft, -stæ ft/ ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If an organization is understaffed , it does not have enough employees to do its work properly. □  Many institutions offering child care are understaffed and underequipped. □  …an understaffed police force.

under|stand ◆◆◆ /ʌ ndə ^r stæ nd/ (understands , understanding , understood )

1 VERB [no cont] If you understand someone or understand what they are saying, you know what they mean. □ [V n] Rusty nodded as though she understood the old woman. □ [V wh] I don't understand what you are talking about. □ [make pron-refl V -ed] He was speaking poor English, trying to make himself understood.

2 VERB [no cont] If you understand a language, you know what someone is saying when they are speaking that language. □ [V n] I couldn't read or understand a word of Yiddish, so I asked him to translate.

3 VERB [no cont] To understand someone means to know how they feel and why they behave in the way that they do. □ [V n] It would be nice to have someone who really understood me, a friend. □ [V n] Trish had not exactly understood his feelings. □ [V wh] She understands why I get tired and grumpy.

4 VERB [no cont] You say that you understand something when you know why or how it happens. □ [V wh] They are too young to understand what is going on. □ [V n] It is worth making the effort to understand how investment trusts work.

5 VERB [no cont] If you understand that something is the case, you think it is true because you have heard or read that it is. You can say that something is understood to be the case to mean that people generally think it is true. □ [V that] We understand that she's in the studio recording her second album. □ [V it ] The idea, as I understand it, is to make science more relevant. □ [be V -ed to-inf] The management is understood to be very unwilling to agree to this request. □ [be V -ed that] It is understood that the veteran reporter had a heart attack.

6 PHRASE If someone is given to understand that something is the case, it is communicated to them that it is the case, usually without them being told directly. □  I am given to understand that he was swearing throughout the game at our fans.

7 CONVENTION You can use understand in expressions like do you understand? or is that understood? after you have told someone what you want, to make sure that they have understood you and will obey you. □  You do not criticize my grandchildren, do you understand? □  I don't need it, understand? □  I don't want to hear another word about it. Is that understood, Emma?

under|stand|able /ʌ ndə ^r stæ ndəb ^ə l/