gave someone to understand
gave someone to understand is the simple past of give someone to understand.
Meaning of give someone to understand
Verb
give someone to understand (third-person singular simple present gives someone to understand, present participle giving someone to understand, simple past gave someone to understand, past participle given someone to understand)
- To tell someone, especially indirectly; to insinuate.
- Hadn't she explained and described and even—though lightly, of course; she couldn't say such a thing directly—given him to understand that this was the one unforgivable thing.1920, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Revelations”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 264
Questions about gave someone to understand
- What is gave someone to understand the simple past of?
- Gave someone to understand is the simple past of give someone to understand.
Words near gave someone to understand in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gave someone to understand (page history and authors); give someone to understand (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “gave someone to understand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gave_someone_to_understand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.