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.

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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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• comprehensions
  plural

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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

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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

Venegas responded in English, “It’s always like that” to Raman’s comment in Spanish that her pronunciation is better than her comprehension.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

On the test that followed, comprehension improved for both groups, but it was highest for the group whose conversation included the bilingual form.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

AI’s progress in math is now giving us a peek at a world beyond our comprehension.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

Bush, 48, of Otley in West Yorkshire, was "preoccupied with his own enrichment", defrauded nearly 200 families out of £562,117 and "caused anguish and pain on a scale beyond comprehension", the judge said.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

For her part, Winnie, now that the running was over, began to comprehend what was happening, and with the comprehension her throat closed and her mouth went dry as paper.

From "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbit

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

You may be able to explain it to yourself—no doubt you are—but to our more limited comprehensions it must remain inexplicable.

From With Edged Tools by Henry Seton Merriman

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

"Only, you know, I suppose he simply means that it is beyond their comprehensions."

From Four Girls at Chautauqua by Pansy

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Related Words

• apprehension
• awareness

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