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Complete vs Comprehensive - What's the difference?

complete | comprehensive |

As adjectives the difference between complete and comprehensive

is that complete is with all parts included; with nothing missing; full while comprehensive is broadly or completely covering; including a large proportion of something.

As a verb complete

is to finish; to make done; to reach the end.

As a noun comprehensive is

a comprehensive school.

complete

English

Alternative forms

* compleat (archaic)

Verb

(complet)
  • To finish; to make done; to reach the end.
  • He completed the assignment on time.
  • To make whole or entire.
  • The last chapter completes the book nicely.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . See

    Synonyms

    * accomplish * finish

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • With all parts included; with nothing missing; full.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author= , title=Well-connected Brains , volume=100, issue=2, page=171 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.}}
  • Finished; ended; concluded; completed.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete . The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.}}
  • (Generic intensifier).
  • (analysis, Of a metric space) in which every Cauchy sequence converges.
  • (algebra, Of a lattice) in which every set with a lower bound has a greatest lower bound.
  • (math, Of a category) in which all small limits exist.
  • (logic, of a proof system of a formal system)   With respect to a given semantics, that any well-formed formula which is (semantically) valid must also be provable.Sainsbury, Mark [2001] Logical Forms : An Introduction to Philosophical Logic . Blackwell Publishing, Hong Kong (2010), p. 358.
  • * Gödel's first incompleteness theorem showed that Principia'' could not be both consistent and complete. According to the theorem, for every sufficiently powerful logical system (such as ''Principia''), there exists a statement ''G'' that essentially reads, "The statement ''G'' cannot be proved." Such a statement is a sort of Catch-22: if ''G'' is provable, then it is false, and the system is therefore inconsistent; and if ''G is not provable, then it is true, and the system is therefore incomplete.(w)
  • Synonyms

    * (with everything included) entire, total * (finished) done

    Antonyms

    * incomplete

    Derived terms

    * bicomplete * cocomplete * completeness * completist * completely * completion

    References

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    comprehensive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Broadly]] or completely covering; [[include, including a large proportion of something.
  • Synonyms

    * (broadly or completely covering) exhaustive, thorough, all-encompassing

    Derived terms

    * comprehensively * comprehensivization * comprehensivize

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British) A comprehensive school.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}} ----