Meanings
nouncomprehension (countable and uncountable, plural comprehensions)
plural comprehensions
- countableuncountableA thorough understanding.
Students will be tested on their comprehension of sentences in the foreign language.
1 more example
What appeal to him are the broad visions, the specious comprehension of the social order as a whole which a planned system promises.
1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 428Synonyms: appreciation
- countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe totality of intensions, that is, attributes, characters, marks, properties, or qualities, that the object possesses, or else the totality of intensions that are pertinent to the context of a given discussion.
- countableuncountablecomputingA compact syntax for generating a collection in some programming languages, traditionally lists in functional programming languages.
- countableuncountableChristianityThe inclusion of nonconformists within the Church of England.
- countableuncountableeducationReading comprehension.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA thorough understanding.
Similar
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
nounan ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result)
Opposite
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincomprehēnsiō“taking together”
- Middle Frenchcompréhension
- Englishcomprehension
Borrowed from Middle French compréhension, from Latin comprehēnsiō (“taking together”), from com- (“with, together”) + prehendō (“take”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κατάληψις
- κατάληψις (katálēpsis)thorough understanding
Arabic فَهْم
- فَهْم (fahm)thorough understanding
Bulgarian разби́ране, схва́щане
- разби́ране (razbírane)thorough understanding
- схва́щане (shváštane)thorough understanding
- споразуме́ние (sporazuménie)thorough understanding
Catalan comprensió
- comprensióthorough understanding
Chinese Mandarin 理解, 瞭解 /了解
- 理解 (lǐjiě)thorough understanding
- 瞭解 /了解 (liǎojiě)thorough understanding
Czech porozumění, pochopení
- porozuměníthorough understanding
- pochopeníthorough understanding
- chápáníthorough understanding
Danish forståelse
- forståelsethorough understanding
Dutch begrip, verstandigheid
- begripthorough understanding
- verstandigheidthorough understanding
Esperanto kompreno
- komprenothorough understanding
Estonian mõistmine
- mõistminethorough understanding
Finnish ymmärrys, käsityskyky
- ymmärrysthorough understanding
- käsityskykythorough understanding
French compréhension, entendement
- compréhensionthorough understanding
- entendementthorough understanding
German Verständnis, Verstehen
- Verständnisthorough understanding
- Verstehenthorough understanding
Greek κατανόηση
- κατανόηση (katanóisi)thorough understanding
Hebrew הֲבָנָה
- הֲבָנָה (havaná)thorough understanding
Hindi समझ, फ़हम
- समझ (samajh)thorough understanding
- फ़हम (faham)thorough understanding
- फहम (phaham)thorough understanding
Icelandic skilningur
- skilningurthorough understanding
Italian comprensione
- comprensionethorough understanding
Japanese 理解, 了解
- 理解 (rikai)thorough understanding
- 了解 (ryōkai)thorough understanding
Korean 이해, 리해
- 이해 (ihae)thorough understanding
- 리해 (rihae)thorough understanding
- 요해 (yohae)thorough understanding
- 료해 (ryohae)thorough understanding
Latvian izpratne
- izpratnethorough understanding
Lithuanian supratimas
- supratimasthorough understanding
Māori aroā, aroātanga
- aroāthorough understanding
- aroātangathorough understanding
Norwegian Bokmål forståelse, begripelse
- forståelsethorough understanding
- begripelsethorough understanding
Polish zrozumienie, pojmowanie
- zrozumieniethorough understanding
- pojmowaniethorough understanding
Portuguese compreensão
- compreensãothorough understanding
Romanian comprehensiune
- comprehensiunethorough understanding
Russian понима́ние, поня́тие
- понима́ние (ponimánije)thorough understanding
- поня́тие (ponjátije)thorough understanding
- осмысле́ние (osmyslénije)thorough understanding
- разуме́ние (razuménije)thorough understanding
Slovak pochopenie, porozumenie
- pochopeniethorough understanding
- porozumeniethorough understanding
Spanish comprensión, entendimiento
- comprensiónthorough understanding
- entendimientothorough understanding
- comprehensiónthorough understanding
Swedish förståelse
- förståelsethorough understanding
Tagalog katalusan, talos
- katalusanthorough understanding
- talosthorough understanding
Thai ความเข้าใจ
- ความเข้าใจ (kwaam-kâo-jai)thorough understanding
Turkish anlayış, fehim
- anlayışthorough understanding
- fehimthorough understanding
Ukrainian розумі́ння, зрозумі́ння
- розумі́ння (rozumínnja)thorough understanding
- зрозумі́ння (zrozumínnja)thorough understanding
Urdu سَمَجھ, فَہْم
- سَمَجھ (samajh)thorough understanding
- فَہْم (fahm)thorough understanding
Vietnamese sự hiểu
- sự hiểuthorough understanding
Yiddish פֿאַרשטאַנד, פֿאַרשטיין
- פֿאַרשטאַנד (farshtand)thorough understanding
- פֿאַרשטיין (farshteyn)thorough understanding
Cite this entry
APA
comprehension. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comprehension
MLA
“comprehension.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comprehension. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “comprehension,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comprehension.
Source: comprehension on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.