comprehension

American  

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

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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

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

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”; 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

These are things that are beyond our mortal comprehension, but that are maybe coming in the near-future.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

This allows events to balloon beyond our comprehension, and may be preventing us from stopping this insanity.

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2026

It’s almost beyond comprehension that Americans have reached the point where we need to be reminded not to attack physicians or medical staff.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

"It measures students' reading comprehension and whether they can handle the level of material they'll encounter in university," says Kim Soo-yeon, an English literature professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.

From BBC • Dec. 11, 2025

But it was just the two of us, me smiling brazenly while inside I quaked in terror, and him, flustered beyond comprehension.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Related Words

• apprehension
• awareness