comprehensiveness

US/kɑmpɹɪˈhɛnsɪvnəs/UK/kɒmpɹɪˈhɛnsɪvnəs/

noun

The state of being comprehensive.

UncommonScrabble 29

Meanings

nouncomprehensiveness (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe state of being comprehensive.

    It was this comprehensiveness which made the art so compelling.

    1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 312
    4 more examples

    He was bent on prosecuting without delay his schemes of conquest in other quarters — schemes of a grandeur and a comprehensiveness unknown to any previous monarch.

    1867, George Rawlinson, M. A., The Five Great Monarchs of the Ancient World, Volume 4 (IV), John Murray, page 364

    But granting that our ignorance of the extent of Nature's powers may in some respects be incurable, still the question concerning the truth of our knowledge bears with far heavier stress upon its validity, than upon its adequacy or comprehensiveness.

    1905, Carveth Read, The Garden Month by Month, Adam and Charles Black, pages 109-110

    A word or two is needed concerning the comprehensiveness of this book. Annuals have not been included, as their dates depend altogether upon the time when their seed is sown.

    1906, Mabel Cabot Sedgwick, Robert Cameron, The Garden Month by Month, Frederick A. Stokes Company, pages 8-9

    The supplementary bibliography (in Vol. VI) attests to the comprehensiveness of the effort.

    1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii

Synonyms & antonyms

nouncompleteness over a broad scope

Similar

nounthe capacity to understand a broad range of topics

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

Bulgarian всеобхватност
  • всеобхватност (vseobhvatnost)Translations
Polish wszechstronność, kompleksowość
  • wszechstronnośćTranslations
  • kompleksowośćTranslations
  • obszernośćTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

comprehensiveness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comprehensiveness

MLA

“comprehensiveness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comprehensiveness. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “comprehensiveness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comprehensiveness.

Source: comprehensiveness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.