Both Uses
comprehend
in
The Pit and the Pendulum
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- Then, very suddenly, thought, and shuddering terror, and earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state.†
comprehend = understand -- especially to understand it completely
- Yet, for a wild moment, did my spirit refuse to comprehend the meaning of what I saw.
*comprehend = understand
Definitions:
-
(1)
(comprehend) to understand something -- especially to understand it completely
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(2)
(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."