Library / English Dictionary

COMPREHEND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get the meaning of something

Example:

Do you comprehend the meaning of this letter?

Synonyms:

apprehend; compass; comprehend; dig; get the picture; grasp; grok; savvy

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "comprehend" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "comprehend"):

figure (understand)

catch on; cotton on; get it; get onto; get wise; latch on; tumble; twig (understand, usually after some initial difficulty)

intuit (know or grasp by intuition or feeling)

digest (arrange and integrate in the mind)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

comprehendible; comprehensible (capable of being comprehended or understood)

comprehension (an ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result))

Sense 2

Meaning:

To become aware of through the senses

Example:

I could perceive the ship coming over the horizon

Synonyms:

comprehend; perceive

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "comprehend"):

see through (perceive the true nature of)

find (perceive oneself to be in a certain condition or place)

taste (perceive by the sense of taste)

listen (hear with intention)

hear (perceive (sound) via the auditory sense)

sight; spy (catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes)

see (perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight)

touch (perceive via the tactile sense)

smell (inhale the odor of; perceive by the olfactory sense)

ache; hurt; suffer (feel physical pain)

dream (experience while sleeping)

catch; pick up (perceive with the senses quickly, suddenly, or momentarily)

misperceive (perceive incorrectly)

hallucinate (perceive what is not there; have illusions)

divine (perceive intuitively or through some inexplicable perceptive powers)

pick up; receive (register (perceptual input))

apperceive (perceive in terms of a past experience)

feel; sense (perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles)

Derivation:

comprehension (an ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Include in scope; include as part of something broader; have as one's sphere or territory

Example:

this should cover everyone in the group

Synonyms:

comprehend; cover; embrace; encompass

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "comprehend" is one way to...):

include (have as a part, be made up out of)

Verb group:

address; cover; deal; handle; plow; treat (act on verbally or in some form of artistic expression)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

comprehension (the relation of comprising something)

comprehensive (including all or everything)

comprehensive (broad in scope)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Something not easily done, accomplished, comprehended, or solved.

(Difficulty, NCI Thesaurus)

And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Safie was always gay and happy; she and I improved rapidly in the knowledge of language, so that in two months I began to comprehend most of the words uttered by my protectors.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As I searched the vacant stretch of water before me, I comprehended thoroughly the need for haste if we were to recover any of our men.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He comprehended everybody present, in the respectful bow with which he followed these words, and disappeared.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They say much of blood and bloom, and of others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The forgiveness, at first, indeed, as was reasonable, comprehended only Robert; and Lucy, who had owed his mother no duty and therefore could have transgressed none, still remained some weeks longer unpardoned.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Buck did not comprehend that silent intentness, nor the eager way with which they were licking their chops.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Behind them a group of swaggering, half-drunken Yorkshire dalesmen, speaking a dialect which their own southland countrymen could scarce comprehend, their jerkins marked with the pelican, which showed that they had come over in the train of the north-country Stapletons.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Of these death-white realms I formed an idea of my own: shadowy, like all the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children's brains, but strangely impressive.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)