Both Uses of
comprehend
in
The Hunger Games
- I stare uncomprehendingly as a trickle of water drips off a sting under his ear.†
p. 193.8uncomprehendingly = 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.
- I slump down on the floor, my face against the door, staring uncomprehendingly at the crystal glass in my hand.†
p. 347.4 *
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."