COMPREHENSION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does comprehension mean? 

• COMPREHENSION (noun)
  The noun COMPREHENSION has 2 senses:

1. an ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result)

2. the relation of comprising something

  Familiarity information: COMPREHENSION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMPREHENSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

he was famous for his comprehension of American literature

Hypernyms ("comprehension" is a kind of...):

apprehension; discernment; savvy; understanding (the cognitive condition of someone who understands)

Antonym:

incomprehension (an inability to understand)

Derivation:

comprehend (get the meaning of something)

comprehend (to become aware of through the senses)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The relation of comprising something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

comprehension; inclusion

Context example:

he admired the inclusion of so many ideas in such a short work

Hypernyms ("comprehension" is a kind of...):

involvement (a connection of inclusion or containment)

Derivation:

comprehend (include in scope; include as part of something broader; have as one's sphere or territory)

 Context examples 

I have no patience with such of my sex as disdain to let themselves sometimes down to the comprehension of yours.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Never had she seen him so angry, and it was all mystified and unreasonable to her comprehension.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But, that a man of quality should be served all by horses, was beyond my comprehension.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

To his dim comprehension they were as much wonder-workers as gods are to men.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The expression on his face was one of complete comprehension.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"I will put her to some test," thought I: "such absolute impenetrability is past comprehension."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But even after researchers identified entrainment, understanding the role of rhythm in language comprehension remained difficult.

(The Rhythms of Sign Language, NSF)

There is something in this which my comprehension does not reach.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

How an English gentleman could behave in such a manner is beyond my comprehension.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And how you will explain away any part of your guilt in that dreadful business, I confess is beyond my comprehension.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)