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Copy vs Understand - What's the difference?

copy | understand |

In transitive terms the difference between copy and understand

is that copy is to imitate while understand is to be aware of the meaning of.

As a noun copy

is the result of copying; an identical duplicate of an original.

copy

English

Noun

(copies)
  • The result of copying; an identical duplicate of an original.
  • Please bring me the copies of those reports.
  • * Denham
  • I have not the vanity to think my copy equal to the original.
  • An imitation, sometimes of inferior quality.
  • That handbag is a copy . You can tell because the buckle is different.
  • (journalism) The text that is to be typeset.
  • (journalism) A gender-neutral abbreviation for copy boy
  • (marketing) The output of copywriters, who are employed to write material which encourages consumers to buy goods or services.
  • (uncountable) The text of newspaper articles.
  • Submit all copy to the appropriate editor.
  • A school work pad.
  • Tim got in trouble for forgetting his maths copy .
  • A printed edition of a book or magazine.
  • Have you seen the latest copy of "Newsweek" yet?
    The library has several copies of the Bible.
  • Writing paper of a particular size, called also bastard.
  • (obsolete) That which is to be imitated, transcribed, or reproduced; a pattern, model, or example.
  • His virtues are an excellent copy for imitation.
  • * Holder
  • Let him first learn to write, after a copy , all the letters.
  • (obsolete) An abundance or plenty of anything.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • She was blessed with no more copy of wit, but to serve his humour thus.
  • (obsolete) copyhold; tenure; lease
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (genetics) The result of gene or chromosomal duplication.
  • Synonyms

    * carbon copy * duplicate * facsimile * image * likeness * reduplication * replica * replication * reproduction * simulacrum * fake * forgery * phony * sham

    Antonyms

    * original

    Derived terms

    * advance copy * backup copy * deep copy * carbon copy * certified copy * clean copy * conformed copy * copy area * copy book * copy boy * copy cat/copycat * copy constructor * copy desk * copydom * copy editor * copy holder * copy key * copy menu * copy number * copy protection * copy room * copy ruler * copy shop * copy test * copy typist * copywriter * courtesy copy * duplicate copy * fair copy * hard copy * image copy * master copy * office copy * photocopy * presentation copy * promotional copy * reading copy * review copy * scaled copy * shallow copy * soft copy * top copy * xerox copy

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (label) To produce an object identical to a given object.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Magician’s brain , passage=[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes. The truth is that Newton was very much a product of his time.}}
  • To place a copy of an object in memory for later use.
  • (label) To imitate.
  • * (Dugald Stewart) (1753–1828)
  • We copy instinctively the voices of our companions, their accents, and their modes of pronunciation.
  • To receive a transmission successfully.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * copyable * copy and paste * copy down * copy-edit * copy out * deep-copy

    Statistics

    * ----

    understand

    English

    Alternative forms

    * understaund (obsolete)

    Verb

  • (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= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= 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.}}
  • To believe, based on information.
  • :
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword 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.
  • 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)
  • Usage notes

    * Common objects of this verb include text'', ''word(s)'', ''sentence(s)'', ''note(s) , etc. * Rarely, the obsolete past tense form understanded'' may be found, e.g. in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and ''Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church .

    Synonyms

    * (to know the meaning) apprehend, comprehend, grasp, know, perceive, pick up what someone is putting down, realise, grok * (to believe) believe

    Antonyms

    * misunderstand

    Derived terms

    * I don’t understand * understandable * understanding * understood

    See also

    * explain * why