COMPREHENSION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Comprehension

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/kˌɑmprihˈɛnʃən/ Listen

noun

Comprehension n.

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."

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."

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.

(Logic) The complement of attributes which make up the notion signified by a general term.

(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.

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Etymology of 'Comprehension'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Comprehension" Quotes from Famous Books

... her meaning and comprehend her soul. Moreover, this contemplation of Nature will have evoked from within himself much that he had never suspected he possessed, and thereby his own soul also he will have learned to understand. And from this completer comprehension of his own soul and hers will have emerged a fuller community of heart between him and Nature. He will have come to worship her with a still more ardent devotion, and through the intensity of his love discovered richer and ...

— The Heart of Nature - or, The Quest for Natural Beauty • Francis Younghusband

... stirring trade was established within six months of the opening day. By this time Mr. Brown had learned to be silent on the subject of advertising, and had been brought to confess, more than once, that the subject was beyond his comprehension. ...

— The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson - By One of the Firm • Anthony Trollope

... sympathetic comprehension. "I know; but it's worst when you've nothing left to pawn. As for clothes, they give you nothing on them, at least round here. But you want to know the time." She opened the window and listened a moment. "It's ...

— People of Position • Stanley Portal Hyatt

... certain branch of science, theology, with religion; and, on the other, by equally shortsighted scientific people who forget that science takes for its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual comprehension; and that, outside the boundaries of that province, they must be content with imagination, with hope, and ...

— Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work • P. Chalmers Mitchell

... ordinary senses, and particularly the one of eye-sight, is liable?—and if they should think so, let them not, at least, deny me the resources I possess. I shall not, however, persist further in a description of that situation, those circumstances and those consolations, which the all-feeling comprehension of the poet hath so justly caught in one of its diviner ...

— A Voyage Round the World, Vol. I (of ?) • James Holman

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