comprehension

noun

com·​pre·​hen·​sion ˌkäm-pri-ˈhen(t)-shən 

-prē-

1

a

: the act or action of grasping with the intellect : understanding

children who have difficulty with comprehension of spoken language

What the artist actually needs is comprehension of his aims and ideals by men he respects …

—H. L. Mencken

b

: knowledge gained by comprehending

tests that measure the students' comprehension in math

She carried on with full comprehension of the risk involved.

c

: the capacity for understanding fully

mysteries that are beyond our comprehension

The war caused suffering beyond comprehension.

2

a

: the act or process of comprising

the comprehension of all the denominations into one Church

b

: the faculty or capability of including : comprehensiveness

the broad comprehension of the word "animal"

3

: connotation sense 3

Synonyms

• appreciation
• apprehension
• grasp
• grip
• hold
• perception
• percipience
• understanding

Examples of comprehension in a Sentence

The students showed excellent reading comprehension.

the president's comprehension of the current situation in the Middle East

Recent Examples on the Web

For most cognitive activities (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation), knowledge workers reported that generative AI had reduced effort. —Charles Towers-Clark, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025

Active reading and note-taking to sharpen focus, enhance comprehension, and improve memory retention. —Dominique Fluker, Essence, 10 Mar. 2025

Again, this is an iterative process, where building meaning from a sentence may require many eye movements to scan back and forth across a sentence, improving reading comprehension—and requiring many of these systems to communicate among themselves. —Tim Stevens, Ars Technica, 3 Mar. 2025

Read Together--Shared reading strengthens comprehension, vocabulary and family bonds. —Linetta Jackson Special To The Democrat-Gazette, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle French & Latin; Middle French, from Latin comprehension-, comprehensio, from comprehendere to understand, comprise

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing comprehension

• beyond comprehension
• beyond comprehension/understanding
• beyond one's comprehension

Rhymes for comprehension

• apprehension
• condescension
• hypertension
• hypotension
• reinvention
• reprehension
• resuspension
• attention
• contention
• convention
• declension
• detention

Kids Definition

comprehension

noun

com·​pre·​hen·​sion ˌkäm-pri-ˈhen-chən 

1

: the act of comprehending

2

: knowledge gained by comprehending

3

: the capacity for understanding