Adjacent Words

Comprise definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COMPRISE, v.t. [See Comprehend.] To comprehend; to contain; to include; as, the substance of a discourse may be comprised in a few words.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: be composed of; "The land he conquered comprised several provinces"; "What does this dish consist of?" [syn: consist, comprise]
2: include or contain; have as a component; "A totally new idea is comprised in this paper"; "The record contains many old songs from the 1930's" [syn: incorporate, contain, comprise]
3: form or compose; "This money is my only income"; "The stone wall was the backdrop for the performance"; "These constitute my entire belonging"; "The children made up the chorus"; "This sum represents my entire income for a year"; "These few men comprise his entire army" [syn: constitute, represent, make up, comprise, be]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (comprised; comprising) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French compris, past participle of comprendre, from Latin comprehendere Date: 15th century 1. to include especially within a particular scope <civilization as Lenin used the term would then certainly have comprised the changes that are now associated in our minds with “developed” rather than “developing” states — Times Literary Supplement> 2. to be made up of <a vast installation, comprising fifty buildings — Jane Jacobs> 3. compose, constitute <a misconception as to what comprises a literary generation — William Styron> <about 8 percent of our military forces are comprised of women — Jimmy Carter> Usage: Although it has been in use since the late 18th century, sense 3 is still attacked as wrong. Why it has been singled out is not clear, but until comparatively recent times it was found chiefly in scientific or technical writing rather than belles lettres. Our current evidence shows a slight shift in usage: sense 3 is somewhat more frequent in recent literary use than the earlier senses. You should be aware, however, that if you use sense 3 you may be subject to criticism for doing so, and you may want to choose a safer synonym such as compose or make up.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 include; comprehend. 2 consist of, be composed of (the book comprises 350 pages). 3 disp. make up, compose (the essays comprise his total work). Derivatives: comprisable adj. Etymology: ME f. F, fem. past part. of comprendre comprehend

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Comprise Com*prise", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Comprised; p. pr. & vb. n. Comprising.] [From F. compris, comprise, p. p. of comprendre, L. comprehendere. See Comprehend.] To comprehend; to include. Comprise much matter in few words. --Hocker. Friendship does two souls in one comprise. --Roscommon. Syn: To embrace; include; comprehend; contain; encircle; inclose; involve; imply.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(comprises, comprising, comprised) 1. If you say that something comprises or is comprised of a number of things or people, you mean it has them as its parts or members. (FORMAL) The special cabinet committee comprises Mr Brown, Mr Mandelson, and Mr Straw... The task force is comprised of congressional leaders, cabinet heads and administration officials... A crowd comprised of the wives and children of scientists staged a demonstration. VERB: V n, be V-ed of n, V-ed 2. The things or people that comprise something are the parts or members that form it. (FORMAL) Women comprise 44% of hospital medical staff. = form, make up VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Comprehend, include, enclose, embrace, contain, embody, take in.

Moby Thesaurus

accouple, accumulate, add, add up to, admit, affect, agglutinate, aggregate, aggregate to, amalgamate, amass, amount to, articulate, assemble, assimilate, associate, assume, band, blend, bond, bracket, bridge, bridge over, bring, call for, cement, chain, clap together, coalesce, collect, combine, come to, come together, complete, compose, compound, comprehend, concatenate, conglobulate, conjoin, conjugate, connect, consolidate, contain, copulate, count in, couple, cover, embed, embody, embrace, encircle, enclose, encompass, enfold, entail, envisage, fill, fill in, fill out, flux, form, fuse, gather, glue, hold, implicate, imply, include, incorporate, integrate, interblend, interfuse, internalize, involve, join, keep within, knot, lay together, lead to, league, link, lump together, make, make one, make up, marry, marshal, mass, meld, melt into one, merge, mix, mobilize, mount up to, number, number among, occupy, pair, piece together, presume, presuppose, put in, put together, receive, reckon among, reckon in, reckon up to, reckon with, reembody, require, roll into one, run into, run to, shade into, solder, solidify, span, splice, stick together, subsume, surround, syncretize, syndicate, synthesize, take, take in, take into account, take into consideration, take up, tape, tie, tot up to, total, tote up to, unify, unite, unitize, weld, yoke