comprehension

American  

[kom-pri-hen-shuhn] / ˌkɒm prɪˈhɛn ʃən /

noun

• comprehensions
  plural

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 British  

/ 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 Word Forms

Derived Forms

• miscomprehension
  noun
• noncomprehension
  noun
• precomprehension
  noun
• supercomprehension
  noun
• uncomprehension
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• comprehensions
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of comprehension

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”; see comprehend) + -iō -ion

---

Explanation

The word comprehension means understanding. When you lack comprehension of a difficult word, you will likely need to look up its definition and usage in a cool, down-to-earth online dictionary! Comprehension actually comes from the Latin term, comprehensionem, which means "a seizing." When you have comprehension of a subject, you have seized information and incorporated it into your own knowledge. Any kind of mental grasping of an idea or a subject is a kind of comprehension. You might attempt comprehension of a curious situation, like the fact that your goofy roommate always manages to date models. Sometimes, such mysteries are beyond comprehension!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

comprehension comprehensions

But here’s the thing: When they tested comprehension, the group that read the far superior human translation understood just as little as those who read the A.I. version.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

But I find myself wondering why another moral issue, much closer to home and shocking almost beyond comprehension, isn’t getting much play on the campaign trail.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Sentencing him at Hull Crown Court, Judge Justice Hilliard told the former undertaker he had "caused anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension".

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

But history is immense in ways that exceed human comprehension.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

She looked from one face to another, until she came to mine and gave a little gasp of comprehension.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

He may also be rushing through the text and not monitoring his own comprehensions.

From Slate ● Jan. 7, 2021

Reed and Wooten will be tasked with improving hitters’ comprehensions of technology-driven approaches and overseeing new catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s resurgence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2019

Nevertheless, her comprehensions were concrete and very, very finite.

From The Brentons by Wilson C. Dexter

He would cease to be a deity and would become one of ourselves were his nature and attributes brought down to the level of our comprehensions.

From The Wing-and-Wing Le Feu-Follet by James Fenimore Cooper

Hitherto there have been, properly speaking, no comprehensions, only perceptions in the Sense and connections in the Understanding.

From Know the Truth; A critique of the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jesse H. Jones

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• apprehension
• awareness

---