All 16 Uses of
comprehend
in
The Idiot
- Aglaya gazed at him for some seconds with precisely the same composure and calm astonishment as she had shown a little while before, when the prince handed her the note, and it appeared that this calm surprise and seemingly absolute incomprehension of what was said to her, were more terribly overwhelming to Gania than even the most plainly expressed disdain would have been.†
Chpt 1.7incomprehension = lack of understanding of somethingstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incomprehension means not and reverses the meaning of comprehension. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- His rage so blinded him that he had not even been able to detect that this "idiot," whom he was abusing to such an extent, was very far from being slow of comprehension, and had a way of taking in an impression, and afterwards giving it out again, which was very un-idiotic indeed.†
Chpt 1.7comprehension = the understanding of something
- Vague though this sounds, it was perfectly comprehensible to Muishkin, though he knew that it was but a feeble expression of his sensations.†
Chpt 2.5 *
- Did it not show that he comprehended his relations with her?†
Chpt 2.5comprehended = understood completely
- He had only seen a wretched, suffering creature, whose state of mind was gloomy and miserable, but most comprehensible.†
Chpt 2.5
- But Evgenie Pavlovitch (as the prince was ready to wager) both comprehended and tried his best to show that he comprehended; his smile was too mocking to leave any doubt on that point.†
Chpt 2.7comprehended = understood completely
- But Evgenie Pavlovitch (as the prince was ready to wager) both comprehended and tried his best to show that he comprehended; his smile was too mocking to leave any doubt on that point.†
Chpt 2.7
- "Look at that, now," thought the mother to herself, "she does nothing but sleep and eat for a year at a time, and then suddenly flies out in the most incomprehensible way!"†
Chpt 3.1incomprehensible = not understandablestandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incomprehensible means not and reverses the meaning of comprehensible. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Before the prince's arrival she had spent some time on the terrace, listening eagerly to the conversation, though the visitors, mostly under the influence of wine, were discussing abstract subjects far beyond her comprehension.†
Chpt 3.4comprehension = the understanding of something
- It is quite clear that he did not eat them all at once, but in a space of fifteen or twenty years: from that point of view the thing is comprehensible and natural...†
Chpt 3.4
- But it is so difficult, and even impossible to understand, that surely I am not to be blamed because I could not fathom the incomprehensible?†
Chpt 3.7incomprehensible = not understandablestandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incomprehensible means not and reverses the meaning of comprehensible. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Why am I to be judged because I could not comprehend the Will and Laws of Providence?†
Chpt 3.7comprehend = understand -- especially to understand it completely
- For some minutes he did not seem to comprehend the excitement around him; that is, he comprehended it and saw everything, but he stood aside, as it were, like someone invisible in a fairy tale, as though he had nothing to do with what was going on, though it pleased him to take an interest in it.†
Chpt 4.7
- For some minutes he did not seem to comprehend the excitement around him; that is, he comprehended it and saw everything, but he stood aside, as it were, like someone invisible in a fairy tale, as though he had nothing to do with what was going on, though it pleased him to take an interest in it.†
Chpt 4.7comprehended = understood completely
- It is as clear as possible, and most comprehensible, that you, in your enthusiasm, should plunge headlong into the first chance that came of publicly airing your great idea that you, a prince, and a pure-living man, did not consider a woman disgraced if the sin were not her own, but that of a disgusting social libertine!†
Chpt 4.9
- it's comprehensible enough, my dear prince, but that is not the question, unfortunately!†
Chpt 4.9
Definition:
to understand something -- especially to understand it completely