9 uses
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Definition
to understand something — especially to understand it completely
- He stared at Maggie, and there ensued much incomprehensible chattering.1.11 — Book 1 Chapter 11 — Maggie Tries to Run away from Her Shadow (59% in)
- But he believed Mr. Stelling to be an excellent classic, for Gadsby had said so, and Gadsby's first cousin was an Oxford tutor; which was better ground for the belief even than his own immediate observation would have been, for though Mr. Riley had received a tincture of the classics at the great Mudport Free School, and had a sense of understanding Latin generally, his comprehension of any particular Latin was not ready.1.3 — Book 1 Chapter 3 — Mr. Riley Gives His Advice Concerning.... (87% in)
- No; to throw the handle after the hatchet is a comprehensible act of desperation, but to throw one's pocket-knife after an implacable friend is clearly in every sense a hyperbole, or throwing beyond the mark.1.6 — Book 1 Chapter 6 — The Aunts and Uncles Are Coming (94% in)
- "Why, what can you be going to send him to a parson for?" he said, with an amazed twinkling in his eyes, looking at Mr. Glegg and Mr. Deane, to see if they showed any signs of comprehension.1.7 — Book 1 Chapter 7 — Enter the Aunts and Uncles (79% in)
- Maggie turned away from the table and threw herself into a chair, with the big tears ready to roll down her cheeks, quite blinded to the presence of Bob, who was looking at her with the pursuant gaze of an intelligent dumb animal, with perceptions more perfect than his comprehension.3.6 — Book 3 Chapter 6 — Tending to Refute the Popular Prejudice.... (59% in)
- The objects among which her mind had moved complacently were all gone,—all the little hopes and schemes and speculations, all the pleasant little cares about her treasures which had made the world quite comprehensible to her for a quarter of a century, since she had made her first purchase of the sugar-tongs, had been suddenly snatched away from her, and she remained bewildered in this empty life.4.2 — Book 4 Chapter 2 — The Torn Nest Is Pierced by the Thorns (20% in)
- It is something cruelly incomprehensible to youthful natures, this sombre sameness in middle-aged and elderly people, whose life has resulted in disappointment and discontent, to whose faces a smile becomes so strange that the sad lines all about the lips and brow seem to take no notice of it, and it hurries away again for want of a welcome.4.2 — Book 4 Chapter 2 — The Torn Nest Is Pierced by the Thorns (42% in)
- He seemed to be too faint and suffering to hear her; but presently, when she said to Maggie, "Go and seek for somebody to fetch the doctor," he looked up at her with full comprehension, and said, "Doctor?5.7 — Book 5 Chapter 7 — A Day of Reckoning (58% in)
- On the other hand, he entered with all the comprehension of a man who had known spiritual conflict, and lived through years of devoted service to his fellow-men, into that state of Maggie's heart and conscience which made the consent to the marriage a desecration to her; her conscience must not be tampered with; the principle on which she had acted was a safer guide than any balancing of consequences.7.2 — Book 7 Chapter 2 — St. Ogg's Passes Judgment (88% in)
There are no more uses of "comprehend" in The Mill on the Floss.
Typical Usage
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