Both Uses of
comprehend
in
The Time Machine
- Weena had put this into my head by some at first incomprehensible remarks about the Dark Nights.†
Chpt 7 *incomprehensible = 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.
- I consented, hardly comprehending then the full import of his words, and he nodded and went on down the corridor.†
Chpt 12comprehending = understanding
Definitions:
-
(1)
(comprehend) to understand something -- especially to understand it completely
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely (and more frequently in the past), comprehend can mean to include as part of something broader. That was the first sense of the word listed in Webster's Dictionary of 1828 with this sample sentence: "The empire of Great Britain comprehends England, Scotland and Ireland, with their dependencies."