All 4 Uses of
comprehend
in
Angelfall
- AS SOON as I step inside, the world fills with the roar of jazz, laughter, and chatter along with a blast of heat, the scent of pungent cigar smoke, perfume, and scrumptious food all rolled into an incomprehensible wave of sensation.†
p. 185.2 *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.
- When I do look, I have trouble comprehending what I'm seeing.†
p. 246.9comprehending = understanding
- You just don't have the faculty to comprehend political strategy.†
p. 266.5comprehend = understand -- especially to understand it completely
- Oh, I comprehend it, Uriel.†
p. 266.5
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."