comprehend means to understand or grasp fully and thoroughly; to plumb.
comprehend is pronounced /kɒmpɹɪˈhɛnd/.
Why “comprehend” is a great word
To grasp the nature or meaning of something fully and thoroughly. From Middle English comprehenden, from Latin comprehendere ("to grasp, seize"), from com- ("together") + prehendere ("to seize"). First recorded in English 1350–1400. Unlike "understand," which can settle for a general awareness, or "appreciate," which leans toward valuing, to "comprehend" is to wrestle a subject into intellectual submission, to seize its totality. It is the final, satisfying click of a lock mechanism, the moment a vast cityscape resolves from a map of confused lines, or the sudden stillness after a cacophony resolves into a single, clear sentence. This is the mind's quiet, conclusive victory over the incomprehensible, the deliberate gathering of scattered fragments into a coherent and possessed whole.
Etymology
From Middle English comprehenden, from Latin comprehendere (“to grasp”), from the prefix com- + prehendere (“to seize”). Doublet of comprend.
verb
- To understand or grasp fully and thoroughly; to plumb.e.g.“I just can't comprehend how someone could be a butcher and vegetarian at the same time.”
- To include, comprise; to contain.e.g.“And lothly mouth, unmeete a mouth to bee, / That nought but gall and venim comprehended […].”
Words closest in meaning
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