All 3 Uses of
comprehend
in
Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
- They spoke Norwegian or Swedish, and looked at Carol uncomprehendingly.†
Chpt 9uncomprehendingly = without understandingstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in uncomprehendingly means not and reverses the meaning of comprehendingly. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- She withdrew from the clamor into a worship of incomprehensible gods.†
Chpt 17 *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.
- The last thing she saw on the station platform was Kennicott, faithfully waving his hand, his face so full of uncomprehending loneliness that he could not smile but only twitch up his lips.†
Chpt 36uncomprehending = 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.
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."