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.

Comprehend vs Incomprehensible - What's the difference?

comprehend | incomprehensible |

As a verb comprehend

is to include, comprise; to contain.

As an adjective incomprehensible is

impossible or very difficult to understand.

comprehend

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , IV.1:
    • And lothly mouth, unmeete a mouth to bee, / That nought but gall and venim comprehended […].
  • * 1776 , (Edward Gibbon), The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , Penguin 2009, p. 9:
    • In the second century of the Christian Æra, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind.
  • To understand or grasp fully and thoroughly.

    • Related terms

    * comprehensibility * comprehensible * comprehension * comprehensive * comprehensiveness * comprise ----

    incomprehensible

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Impossible or very difficult to understand.
  • * Greg Bear, Heads , 1990
    • He shook his head. 'It's not only undefined, it's incomprehensible. Even the QL is befuddled by it and can't give me straight answers.'
  • * Mark Twain, Letters From The Earth , 1938
    • But this inference, which is supported by the opening of Book I, renders incomprehensible the note "and I have finished writing this," which is included within the dream.

    Related terms

    * (l)

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Antonyms

    * (l) * (l)

    External links

    * * ----