What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Comprised vs Compose - What's the difference?

comprised | compose |

As verbs the difference between comprised and compose

is that comprised is (comprise) while compose is .

As a noun compose is

compound.

comprised

English

Verb

(head)
  • (comprise)

  • 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.

    compose

    English

    (Composition)

    Verb

    (compos)
  • To make something by merging parts.
  • The editor composed a historical journal from many individual letters.
    Try to compose your thoughts.
  • * Bishop Sprat
  • Zeal ought to be composed of the highest degrees of all pious affection.
  • To make up the whole; to constitute.
  • A church is composed of its members.
  • * I. Watts
  • A few useful things compose their intellectual possessions.
  • (nonstandard) To comprise.
  • (transitive, or, intransitive) To construct by mental labor; to think up; particularly, to produce or create a literary or musical work.
  • The orator composed his speech over the week prior.
    Nine numbered symphonies, including the Fifth, were composed by Beethoven.
    It's difficult to compose without absolute silence.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Let me compose / Something in verse as well as prose.
  • * B. R. Haydon
  • the genius that composed such works as the "Standard" and "Last Supper"
  • (sometimes, reflexive) To calm; to free from agitation.
  • The defendant couldn't compose herself and was found in contempt.
  • * Dryden
  • Compose thy mind; / Nor frauds are here contrived, nor force designed.
  • To arrange the elements of a photograph or other picture.
  • To settle (an argument, dispute etc.); to come to a settlement.
  • * 2010 , (Christopher Hitchens), Hitch-22 , Atlantic 2011, p. 280:
  • By trying his best to compose matters with the mullahs, he had sincerely shown that he did not seek a violent collision
  • To arrange in proper form; to reduce to order; to put in proper state or condition.
  • * Dryden
  • In a peaceful grave my corpse compose .
  • * Milton
  • How in safety best we may / Compose our present evils.
  • (printing, dated) To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset.
  • Derived terms

    * composer * composite * composing stick * composition * compositor * composure * decompose