comprehend
verbattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//kɒmpɹɪˈhɛnd//
- United States//ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnd//
- Australia//kɔmpɹɪˈhend//
To understand or grasp fully and thoroughly; to plumb.
verb
- 1
To understand or grasp fully and thoroughly; to plumb.
I just can't comprehend how someone could be a butcher and vegetarian at the same time.
Our ſoules, whoſe faculties can comprehend The wondrous Architecture of the world: And meaſure euery wandring planets courſe, Still climing after knowledge infinite, […]
- 2
archaicTo include, comprise; to contain.
And lothly mouth, unmeete a mouth to bee, / That nought but gall and venim comprehended […].
The King being resolved to have a Peace concluded at any Rate, sent us at last to Monsieur des Farges, who would hearken to no Treaty, without allowing us the benefit of being comprehended in it, by which means our liberty was obtain'd.
In the second century of the Christian Æra, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind.
Etymology
From Middle English comprehenden, from Latin comprehendere (“to grasp”), from the prefix com- + prehendere (“to seize”). Doublet of comprend.
Forms
- past tense
- comprehended
- past participle
- comprehended
- present participle
- comprehending
- third person singular
- comprehends
comprehend · To understand or grasp fully and thoroughly; to plumb.
comprehensive · Broadly or completely covering; including a large proportion…compressed · Pressed tightly together.compression · An increase in density; the act of compressing, or the state…