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Comprise vs Compress - What's the difference?

comprise | compress |

As verbs the difference between comprise and compress

is that comprise is to be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts) while compress is to make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.

As a noun compress is

(folded_cloth) A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.

comprise

English

Verb

(compris)
  • To be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts).
  • :
  • :
    However, the passive voice of comprise must be employed carefully to make sense. Phrases such as "animals and cages are comprised by zoos" or "pitchers, catchers, and fielders are comprised by baseball teams" highlight the difficulty.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Arsenal 1-0 Everton , passage=Arsenal were playing without a recognised full-back - their defence comprising four centre-halves - and the lack of width was hindering their progress.}}
  • To include, contain or embrace.
  • :
  • To compose, to constitute. See usage note below.
  • :
  • :
  • *1657 , (Isaac Barrow), (translation), Prop. XXX
  • *:"Seeing then the angles comprised of equal right lines are equal, we have found the angle FDE equal to the angle ABC."
  • *
  • *:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local colour) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
  • (lb) To include, contain, or be made up of ("open-ended", doesn't limit to the items listed; cf. compose , which is "closed" and limits to the items listed)
  • Usage notes

    * Traditionally, a team comprised its members, whereas the members composed'' the team. (The ''Associated Press Stylebook'' advises journalists to maintain this distinction.) The sense "compose, constitute" — as in "the members comprise the team" — is sometimes considered incorrect. According to '' also state that it is an increasingly frequent and accepted usage. * The use of "of" with the verb in the active (rather than passive) tense is always incorrect, hence *"the UK comprises of four countries" and *"four countries comprise of the UK" are incorrect.

    compress

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) compresser, from compressare 'to press hard/together', from compressus, the past participle of comprimere 'to compress', itself from com- 'together' + premere 'to press'

    Verb

  • To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.
  • The force required to compress a spring varies linearly with the displacement.
  • * D. Webster
  • events of centuries compressed within the compass of a single life
  • * Melmoth
  • The same strength of expression, though more compressed , runs through his historical harangues.
  • To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format.
  • ''Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel
  • To condense into a more economic, easier format.
  • This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram.
  • To abridge.
  • If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information.
  • (technology) To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.
  • (obsolete) To embrace sexually.
  • (Alexander Pope)
    Synonyms
    * (press together ): compact, condense, pack, press, squash, squeeze * (be pressed together ): contract * (condense, abridge ): abridge, condense, shorten, truncate
    Antonyms
    * (press together ): expand * (be pressed together ): decontract * (condense, abridge ): expand, lengthen * (make computing data smaller ): uncompress
    Derived terms
    * compressed * compressed air * compressedly * compressibility * compressible * compression * compressive * compressive strength * compressor * decompress

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) compresse, from compresser 'to compress', from Late (etyl) compressare 'to press hard/together', from compressus, the past participle of comprimere 'to compress', itself from com- 'together' + premere 'to press'

    Noun

    (es)
  • A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.
  • He held a cold compress over the sprain.
  • A machine for compressing