Synonym Chooser

How is the word comprehend distinct from other similar verbs?

The words appreciate and understand are common synonyms of comprehend. While all three words mean "to have a clear or complete idea of," comprehend may stress the process of coming to grips with something intellectually.

I have trouble comprehending your reasons for doing this

When is it sensible to use appreciate instead of comprehend?

While the synonyms appreciate and comprehend are close in meaning, appreciate implies a just evaluation or judgment of a thing's value or nature.

failed to appreciate the risks involved

How are the words understand and comprehend related?

Both understand and comprehend are very often interchangeable, with understand sometimes stressing the fact of having attained a firm mental grasp of something.

orders that were fully understood and promptly obeyed

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of comprehend Children and adults could not comprehend the tragedy ahead of them. Mary Laporte, Hartford Courant, 19 Mar. 2025 Even the mirror against the far wall appears vacant as Cassidy stares, trying to comprehend. Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025 Coca-Cola’s brief essentially trots out the same list of qualitative differences that the company raised during the Tax Court proceedings, almost as though the court had simply overlooked or failed to comprehend them. Ryan Finley, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025 One Trump adviser said a goal of the president’s speech would be connecting his rapid-pace actions so far to average Americans who may not yet comprehend the motives behind them. Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for comprehend
Recent Examples of Synonyms for comprehend
Verb
  • Getting more people to understand who is homeless, Are and Portway agree, is key to getting better results for people.
    Christie Zizo, Orlando Sentinel, 19 Mar. 2025
  • Now, scientists are trying to help water managers better understand the salt risks that crucial water supplies face from land to sea as global temperatures warm.
    Ars Technica, Ars Technica, 19 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • The cause of the fire was not known, the Fire Brigade said.
    Phil Helsel, NBC News, 21 Mar. 2025
  • Apart from its cool aesthetic, the blender is known for being the quietest out there.
    Jake Henry Smith, Glamour, 20 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • The five-mile-long mountain ridge that encompasses Mount Yoshino is said to be covered by about 30,000 cherry trees—the oldest of which is thought to have been planted more than 1,300 years ago.
    Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 21 Mar. 2025
  • Nearly half the population is Hindu, whose beliefs encompass respect toward animals.
    ByRefael Kubersky, science.org, 20 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Two puncture marks in the ring eventually gave translators a clue about how to decipher it.
    Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 15 Mar. 2025
  • And the latter term for one who studies or writes word, logic or mathematical puzzles seems apt for what Gates has deciphered on the job.
    Vahe Gregorian, Kansas City Star, 14 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • What To Know Tesla operates in several Middle Eastern countries already, including the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Jordan, and Qatar, but Saudi Arabia is the largest market in the Gulf region.
    Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Mar. 2025
  • To be fair, many of those — including emerging aces Tanner Bibee, Logan Gilbert, Mackenzie Gore and Paul Skenes along with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga, who started in their native Japan when the Dodgers and Cubs opened in Tokyo last week — are no-doubters.
    Jerry Beach, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • This includes the emergence of theory of mind, the point at which children really start grasping the idea that other people have their own set of beliefs and representations of reality.
    Charlotte Hu, Scientific American, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Jack Blues is sweetly grasping his 31-year-old dad’s face in the frames — which appear to have been taken after bathtime — while lying on a white towel on a tiled floor.
    Clare Fisher, People.com, 27 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • The report from Beacon, a cross-asset portfolio analytics and risk management platform for multi-strategy hedge funds, contains some good news and some not so good news about hedge funds’ use of technology.
    Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
  • Firefighters have not yet contained some of the strongest blazes, although officials hoped that a sprinkling of rain on Thursday would aid their emergency efforts, the Times reports.
    Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • For years, the school board declined the proposal to recognize Eid as a day off.
    Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Police are still searching for the men, and released images of them on Thursday in the hope someone may recognize them.
    Elizabeth Keogh, New York Daily News, 28 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Comprehend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/comprehend. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.

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