comprehension

[ kom-pri-hen-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act or process of comprehending.
2. the state of being comprehended.
3. perception or understanding:

   His comprehension of physics is amazing for a young student.

4. capacity of the mind to perceive and understand; power to grasp ideas; ability to know.
5. Logic. the connotation of a term.
6. inclusion.
7. comprehensiveness.

comprehension

/ ˌkɒmprɪˈhɛnʃən /

noun

1. the act or capacity of understanding
2. the state of including or comprising something; comprehensiveness
3. education an exercise consisting of a previously unseen passage of text with related questions, designed to test a student's understanding esp of a foreign language
4. obsolete.
   logic the attributes implied by a given concept or term; connotation

Other Words From

• miscom·pre·hension noun
• noncom·pre·hension noun
• precom·pre·hension noun
• super·compre·hension noun
• uncom·pre·hension noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of comprehension¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin comprehēnsiōn-, stem of comprehēnsiō, from comprehēns(us) “understood” (past participle of comprehendere “to understand,” literally, “to seize together”; comprehend ) + -iō -ion

Example Sentences

Ultimately, Trump's 2024 victory reflects exactly that kind of failure of imagination and comprehension.

From Salon

He said their offences went against any sense of compassion and were "beyond comprehension for most of society".

From BBC

For the United States, it is beyond comprehension that half the American electorate is willing to embrace a political leader who has already promised to be a dictator on his first day in office.”

From Salon

Some had previously written on Israeli-Palestinian conflicts and from that, Coates “derived a sense that comprehension of conflict was a matter of knowledge, not morality.”

From Salon

We can even dial the vocabulary up or down to match our precise IQ and level of reading comprehension.

From Salon

Related Words

• apprehension
• awareness