Adjacent Words

Comprehension definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COMPREHENSION, n.
1. The act or quality of comprehending, or containing; a comprising.
In the Old Testament there is a close comprehension of the New; in the New, an open discovery of the Old.
2. An including or containing within a narrow compass; a summary; an epitome or compend.
This wise and religious aphorism in the text, is the sum and comprehension of all the ingredients of human happiness.
3. Capacity of the mind to understand; power of the understanding to receive and contain ideas; capacity of knowing.
The nature of spirit is not within our comprehension.
4. In rhetoric, a grope or figure, by which the name of a whole is put for a part, or that of a part for a whole, or a definite number for an indefinite.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result); "how you can do that is beyond my comprehension"; "he was famous for his comprehension of American literature" [ant: incomprehension]
2: the relation of comprising something; "he admired the inclusion of so many ideas in such a short work" [syn: inclusion, comprehension]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle French & Latin; Middle French, from Latin comprehension-, comprehensio, from comprehendere to understand, comprise Date: 15th century 1. a. the act or action of grasping with the intellect ; understanding b. knowledge gained by comprehending c. the capacity for understanding fully <mysteries that are beyond our comprehension> 2. a. the act or process of comprising b. the faculty or capability of including ; comprehensiveness 3. connotation 3

Britannica Concise

Act of or capacity for grasping with the intellect. The term is most often used in connection with tests of reading skills and language abilities, though other abilities (e.g., mathematical reasoning) may also be examined. Specialists in administering and interpreting such tests are known as psychometricians (see psychometrics) or differential psychologists. See also dyslexia, laterality, psychological testing, speech.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a the act or capability of understanding, esp. writing or speech. b an extract from a text set as an examination, with questions designed to test understanding of it. 2 inclusion. 3 Eccl. hist. the inclusion of Nonconformists in the Anglican Church. Etymology: F compréhension or L comprehensio (as COMPREHENSIBLE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Comprehension Com`pre*hen"sion, n. [L. comprehensio: cf. F. compr['e]hension.] 1. The act of comprehending, containing, or comprising; inclusion. In the Old Testament there is a close comprehension of the New; in the New, an open discovery of the Old. --Hooker. 2. That which is comprehended or inclosed within narrow limits; a summary; an epitome. [Obs.] Though not a catalogue of fundamentals, yet . . . a comprehension of them. --Chillingworth. 3. The capacity of the mind to perceive and understand; the power, act, or process of grasping with the intellect; perception; understanding; as, a comprehension of abstract principles. 4. (Logic) The complement of attributes which make up the notion signified by a general term. 5. (Rhet.) A figure by which the name of a whole is put for a part, or that of a part for a whole, or a definite number for an indefinite.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(comprehensions) 1. Comprehension is the ability to understand something. (FORMAL) This was utterly beyond her comprehension. = understanding 2. Comprehension is full knowledge and understanding of the meaning of something. (FORMAL) They turned to one another with the same expression of dawning comprehension, surprise, and relief. 3. When pupils do comprehension, they do an exercise to find out how well they understand a piece of spoken or written language. N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Inclusion, comprising, embracing. 2. Scope, reach, sweep, range, compass, embrace, field, sphere, limits, domain, province. 3. (Log.) Intension, connotation, force, depth, etc. (of a notion). 4. Grasp (of our understanding), power to understand, conception, understanding, intelligence. 5. Intellect, mind, reason, mental capacity, understanding, intelligence.

Moby Thesaurus

IQ, admissibility, admission, apprehension, assimilation, caliber, capacity, clairvoyance, command, completeness, comprehensiveness, comprisal, conception, conceptualization, coverage, deductive power, eligibility, embodiment, embracement, encompassment, envisagement, esemplastic power, exhaustiveness, foreknowledge, grasp, grip, ideation, inclusion, inclusiveness, incorporation, integrative power, intellect, intellection, intellectual grasp, intellectual power, intellectualism, intellectuality, intelligence, intelligence quotient, knowledge, mastery, membership, mental age, mental capacity, mental grasp, mental ratio, mentality, mother wit, native wit, openness, participation, power of mind, precognition, prehension, rationality, reasoning power, reception, sanity, savvy, scope of mind, sense, thinking power, tolerance, toleration, understanding, whole, wisdom, wit