comprehend
Americanverb (used with object)
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comprehends,
present (3rd person singular)
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comprehended,
past participle, past
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comprehending
present participle
verb
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to perceive or understand
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(tr) to comprise or embrace; include
Usage
What are other ways to say comprehend? To comprehend something is to grasp it with the mind. How is comprehend different from know and understand? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Synonym Usage
See include.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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comprehendernoun
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precomprehendverb (used with object)
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noncomprehendingadjective
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self-comprehendingadjective
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uncomprehendedadjective
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uncomprehendingadjective
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well-comprehendedadjective
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comprehendinglyadverb
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noncomprehendinglyadverb
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uncomprehendinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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comprehendsimple
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comprehendssimple
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have comprehendedperfect
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has comprehendedperfect
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am comprehendingprogressive
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are comprehendingprogressive
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is comprehendingprogressive
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have been comprehendingperfect progressive
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has been comprehendingperfect progressive
Past
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comprehendedsimple
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had comprehendedperfect
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was comprehendingprogressive
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were comprehendingprogressive
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had been comprehendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of comprehend
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English comprehenden, from Latin comprehendere, from com- com- + prehendere “to seize” ( see prehension)
Explanation
To comprehend something is to understand it, like when you have to read a difficult passage more than once in order to comprehend it. When you comprehend something, you grasp its meaning. Comprehend is a verb that originates from the Latin word comprehendere, which means “catch or seize.” When an idea is clear to you and you understand it completely, you comprehend it, like doing extra problems to make sure you comprehend a difficult algebra rule, or finding it hard to comprehend why someone would paint his house neon yellow.
Vocabulary lists containing comprehend
Vocabulary of the Common Core
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List 4
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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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:
“There is no privileged access to understanding its direction. You need to look through as many windows as possible. We humans are limited and exhausted and can’t comprehend the world in its fullness.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
At first, she struggled to comprehend the danger.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
Huang said that world models, which are designed to comprehend real-world physics, may still struggle to actually achieve that goal in three years.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
The scale of the peril is hard to comprehend and harder to articulate; they’re more curious to explore the crisis than find a fix.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
College Football Brain is why we still have Zombie Bowl games layered on top of this 12-team playoff, as if anyone actually cares or comprehends why the quarterfinal needs to masquerade as the Cotton Bowl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025
They communicate verbally and also, often in games, only with a nod or a look that the other instantly comprehends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2024
“I don’t think she comprehends the breadth and depth of the suffering she has caused,” a tearful Ruetten said.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
She comprehends the win-win dynamic of a dual hosting model, especially when the other host is a professional comic.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2023
He comprehends it, being a man full grown, able to oversee the kind of house Zeus would endow with honor.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
They are to be relished if not comprehended.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
“I could have never comprehended such a perfect opportunity to align with my goals as an artist and future arts leader and an arts advocate.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025
"I don't think 13-year-old me could have comprehended what I'm feeling now."
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2023
Whether he survived Nandor's wrath became less important than whether Guillermo fully understood what he professed to desire most and whether Nandor comprehended how essential Guillermo is to his well-being.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2023
He opened his eyes and seized it, took it in, comprehended it all at once, and found that it came accompanied by a fierce determination, a sense of rising resolution.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
“Higher capacity is required for complex transactions like contracts, which require not just grasping the immediate exchange, but also comprehending finer details, consequences and the broader context.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
And once comprehending, shall he go with the flow?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
Yet as commander in chief, wisely comprehending that no war to save the Union could be waged, much less won, exclusively by Republicans, Lincoln sought out Democrats to help battle secession.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
"They can't remember what things are called, can't finish a sentence, have trouble comprehending a text."
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
I bowed to my prayer book and read the words without comprehending them.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
