comprehend
Usage
What are other ways to say comprehend?
To comprehend is to know something thoroughly and to perceive its relationships to certain other ideas, facts, etc. To know is to be aware of something as a fact or truth: He knows the basic facts of the subject. I know that he agrees with me. To understand is to be fully aware not only of the meaning of something but also of its implications: I could comprehend all he said, but did not understand that he was joking.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Hard as it may seem now to comprehend, some people developed healthier relationships with others and had a stronger sense of their own place in the world.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Wales' own golden girl now has, but the rider herself would not comprehend the comparisons.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Moves like that make it easy to comprehend that his ill-fated meanders could have been avoided if he’d followed the same directions that got everyone else home sooner.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
Zidan said he still struggled to comprehend what had happened in the village.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
He could not comprehend the words “no money,” who all his life had but to reach out his hand and fill it as often as he would.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
College Football Brain is why we still have Zombie Bowl games layered on top of this 12-team playoff, as if anyone actually cares or comprehends why the quarterfinal needs to masquerade as the Cotton Bowl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025
They communicate verbally and also, often in games, only with a nod or a look that the other instantly comprehends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2024
“I don’t think she comprehends the breadth and depth of the suffering she has caused,” a tearful Ruetten said.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
While performing in the viola section of an orchestra recently, my mind drifted briefly to the complex method through which the brain comprehends time.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2023
He comprehends it, being a man full grown, able to oversee the kind of house Zeus would endow with honor.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Manjusri, with a calm smile, gently raises his hand to counter that the true nonmaterial essence of the Buddha can never be comprehended before transcending the material world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
I intellectually comprehended this rule, but living through it was another thing entirely.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2025
“The Argonauts” revolutionized the way queer family-making is written about, talked about and comprehended.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2025
He told the inquiry he had been "frustrated" that some government officials had not "comprehended the figures".
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2023
The old man blinked for a moment and then comprehended, and cackled with laughter.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
“Higher capacity is required for complex transactions like contracts, which require not just grasping the immediate exchange, but also comprehending finer details, consequences and the broader context.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
And once comprehending, shall he go with the flow?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
Yet as commander in chief, wisely comprehending that no war to save the Union could be waged, much less won, exclusively by Republicans, Lincoln sought out Democrats to help battle secession.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
"They can't remember what things are called, can't finish a sentence, have trouble comprehending a text."
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
“It would hardly be worthwhile. She’d be weeks in comprehending it.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Vocabulary lists containing comprehend
Vocabulary of the Common Core
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List 4
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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