Both Uses of
comprehend
in
1984, by Orwell
- The dream had also been comprehended by — indeed, in some sense it had consisted in — a gesture of the arm made by his mother, and made again thirty years later by the Jewish woman he had seen on the news film, trying to shelter the small boy from the bullets, before the helicopter blew them both to pieces.†
p. 160.4 *comprehended = understood completely
- Ampleforth marched clumsily out between the guards, his face vaguely perturbed, but uncomprehending.†
p. 232.1uncomprehending = not understandingstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in uncomprehending means not and reverses the meaning of comprehending. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definition:
to understand something -- especially to understand it completely