WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Com`pre*hend"
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [L. comprehendere, comprehensum; com- + prehendere to grasp, seize; prae before + hendere (used only in comp.). See Get, and cf. Comprise.]
Definition : 1. To contain; to embrace; to include; as, the states comprehended in the Austrian Empire. Who hath . . . comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure. Is. xl. 12.

2. To take in or include by construction or implication; to comprise; to imply. Comprehended all in this one word, Discretion. Hobbes. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying. Rom. xiii. 9.

3. To take into the mind; to grasp with the understanding; to apprehend the meaning of; to understand. At a loss to comprehend the question. W. Irwing. Great things doeth he, which we can not comprehend. Job. xxxvii. 5.

Syn. -- To contain; include; embrace; comprise; inclose; grasp; embody; involve; imply; apprehend; imagine; conceive; understand. See Apprehend.

t. [imp. & p. p. Comprehended; p. pr. & vb. n. Comprehending.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913