All 9 Uses of
comprehend
in
The Lords of Discipline
- The frozen, unconvincing smile is an expression of almost incomprehensible melancholy.†
Chpt Prol. *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 asked him if he got any pussy this summer," Gooch explained to me with penitent, uncomprehending eyes.†
Chpt 1.4uncomprehending = 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.
- I could feel myself struggle with a game and ardent inarticulateness as I tried to explain the concept of honor to the staggered, uncomprehending mass of boys who shivered in the air conditioning below me.†
Chpt 1.9
- I wanted to be winged and silver and unseen in the dizzying heights of the stratosphere, where I would drop from the safety of cumulus and prey on enemy fleets and cities whose surprised citizens would speak not a single word I could comprehend.†
Chpt 1.10comprehend = understand -- especially to understand it completely
- Cain and I looked at each other for a single uncomprehending moment before John Kinnell, the R Company commander, burst into the room.†
Chpt 1.14uncomprehending = 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.
- It transformed you into something beyond the powers of men unseasoned by the Institute to comprehend.†
Chpt 3.26comprehend = understand -- especially to understand it completely
- You, of course, could not help the accident that selected you as a member of this contemptible race, but you must understand the significance of the fact and you must try to comprehend how the cards are stacked against you.†
Chpt 3.27
- But they are a freedom-loving people, of that there can be no question, though they lack the mental capacity to comprehend what the essence of freedom truly means.†
Chpt 3.27
- You have not fully comprehended my feelings for those godforsaken wretches.†
Chpt 4.34comprehended = understood completely
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."