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
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comprisessimple
-
have comprisedperfect
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has comprisedperfect
-
am comprisingprogressive
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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:
These folks comprise the wealthiest generation in history: According to the Federal Reserve, baby boomers control $90 trillion in assets.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
Hyperscalers still comprise around 55% of data-center revenue, but Nvidia intends to shift its mix toward ACIE, a bucket essentially comprising non-hyperscale customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Roughly 85 percent of water systems serve communities of fewer than 50,000, communities that together comprise less than 10 percent of the entire U.S. population.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
For Dan Tana’s, as far as ghosts go, they comprise a who’s who of Hollywood royalty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Our first impressions are generated by our experiences and our environment, which means that we can change our first impressions—we can alter the way we thin-slice—by changing the experiences that comprise those impressions.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Lucas Museum’s Chief Executive Tracey Bates said “Star Wars” comprises only 7% of the museum’s inaugural exhibitions, but there’s still plenty for fans — even casual ones — to sink their teeth into.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
A commercial tree comprises a rootstock, chosen for its tolerance to local conditions, grafted to the upper half which determines what sort of fruit is produced.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
It comprises government, employer and employee representatives, in line with the agency's tripartite structure.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
AI is more pervasive in long posts on LinkedIn than on other text-based platforms like X, where it accounts for 29%, and Reddit, where AI comprises 13%, according to the firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
For example, the Indo-European language family, which includes English as well as French, Russian, Greek, and Hindi, comprises about 144 languages.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Lorena Gonzalez, president of California Labor Federation, said Regan’s union is overwhelmingly comprised of women and women of color, who just reelected him to a position he’s held for 16 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The transaction comprised $1.25 billion of five-year sukuk maturing in 2031 and $2 billion of 10-year notes due in 2036.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
The flesh of this movie is its body, comprised of nebulous ideas.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
The stricken area is comprised mostly of towns and villages with few, if any, high-rise buildings.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
The twelve months that comprised 1919 were extraordinary.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
The vast Theban necropolis, comprising an area of around 10km², was Egypt’s main royal and elite cemetery for half a millennium, from ca.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
It appears, for instance, on the website of the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a lobbying organization comprising health insurers and pro-business groups such as local chambers of commerce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
The team, comprising around 90 army and police personnel, first broke through into the upper part of a mud-swamped 3A tunnel on Saturday night, pumping air inside and sending in a camera.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Hyperscalers still comprise around 55% of data-center revenue, but Nvidia intends to shift its mix toward ACIE, a bucket essentially comprising non-hyperscale customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
The agricultural economy was based on a seasonal cycle of production, comprising long months of cultivation followed by short peak periods of harvest.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
