comprise
Americanverb (used with object)
-
comprises,
present (3rd person singular)
-
comprised,
past participle, past
-
comprising
present participle
-
to include or contain.
The Soviet Union comprised several socialist republics.
-
to consist of; be composed of.
The advisory board comprises six members.
-
to form or constitute.
Seminars and lectures comprised the day's activities.
idioms
verb
-
to include; contain
-
to constitute the whole of; consist of
her singing comprised the entertainment
Usage
The use of of after comprise should be avoided: the library comprises (not comprises of ) 500 000 books and manuscripts
Synonym Usage
See include.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
comprisesimple
-
comprisessimple
-
have comprisedperfect
-
has comprisedperfect
-
am comprisingprogressive
-
are comprisingprogressive
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is comprisingprogressive
-
have been comprisingperfect progressive
-
has been comprisingperfect progressive
Past
-
comprisedsimple
-
had comprisedperfect
-
was comprisingprogressive
-
were comprisingprogressive
-
had been comprisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of comprise
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English comprisen, from Middle French compris (past participle of comprendre ), from Latin comprehēnsus; see comprehension
Explanation
When something comprises other things, it is made up of them or formed from them. The periodic table comprises 118 elements, because the whole comprises the parts. In its traditional use, the word comprise is the opposite of compose: if A comprises X, Y, and Z, then X, Y, and Z compose A. But because compose and comprise sound so much alike, people have long confused the two. So now you often hear things like "The band is comprised of a guitarist, a bassist, and a hairy drummer," whereas sticklers would prefer "is composed of" in that sentence. The word is undergoing a usage shift, making it just as hairy as that drummer!
Vocabulary lists containing comprise
List 1
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Hatchet
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Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Total orders for durable goods—which comprise goods meant to last three years or more—increased in July by 1.1% to $339.3 billion, compared with a 0.5% increase in June.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
"Those 5,000 people comprise a community. Not just men and women under stress. It's a community under stress."
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Cases in the U.S. comprise only the smallest fraction of those numbers, with annual deaths usually in the low hundreds and diagnosed cases in the thousands.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
U.S. revenues now comprise 81% of the overall business, up from 73% last year, Palantir CFO David Glazer told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Why, as Arthur Eddington liked to ask, do the nuclei that comprise my elbow not slide effortlessly through the nuclei that comprise the table?
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Shein said its product selection comprises of more than 2 million apparel styles, with customers able to select from about 4,700 new styles on a daily basis.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Kidjo joins Charlize Theron, a white South African actress, in representing Africa on the Walk of Fame, which comprises more than 2,800 stars.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
“From the Front Line,” translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, with commentary by Mr. Chandler and Julia Volohova, comprises a selection of Grossman’s 49 articles from the Red Star.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
The group -- which comprises 14 brands including Fiat, Opel, Citroen, Peugeot and Jeep -- reported sales of 43.5 billion euros for March to June, up 13 percent year-on-year.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
The first-class citizenry comprises the chief, who has authority over the whole village, his aides, and the Khmer Rouge soldiers.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
The flesh of this movie is its body, comprised of nebulous ideas.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
Not only in the sheer existence of the AI itself, which is comprised of literal stolen material, but in robbing creators of their process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
According to data from Circana, they comprised 1.6% of women’s total footwear sales for the 12 months ending in June; that was a bit up from 1.4% a year ago.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
The stricken area is comprised mostly of towns and villages with few, if any, high-rise buildings.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
His hypnotic drum beats may have sounded repetitive but were in fact comprised of endlessly modifying patterns.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Another 36,600 arrived from the U.S. in July, up 15% from last year and comprising a third of total visitors, according to the ministry and the Central Bureau of Statistics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Disney said in a statement it will make available Marvel, Star Wars and other content comprising "memorable scenes and moments from Disney movies and shows."
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Magistrate Ann Minton ordered him to pay a total of £1,771, comprising two fines of £333 and £666, £240 in costs and victim surcharges totalling £532.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Enhanced formats made up 53% of the domestic weekend’s total, with both film and digital Imax revenue comprising 23.8%.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
It is a simple creature, ten inches long, comprising a rubbery spout and a venom sac.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
