Etymologically
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comprehensive

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˌkɒm.prɪˈhen.sɪv/, US /ˌkɑːm.prəˈhen.sɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French compréhensif, or directly Late Latin comprehēnsīvus,[2][3][4] from comprehēns-, the past participle stem of comprehendere (“to take together, include; to grasp mentally”) (see comprehend),[2] from com- (“together, completely”) and prehendere (“to seize”),[2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *ghend- (“to seize, take”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Characterized by comprehension, including much: 1614 in the OED and MWU, the 1610s in Etymonline, where the first sense is “containing much in small limits”.[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

Grasping or understanding something fully is from 1628, and broad in mental grasp or sympathies from 1700.[5] Containing much in a small compass is from 1662.[5] The comprehensive school, a British secondary school for children of all abilities, is from 1947, and comprehensive motor insurance, covering most risks, is a 20th-century use.[5][3][7] In American colleges, comprehensives are examinations covering a whole field of study.[8] Comprehensively dates from the mid-15th century, before the adjective is recorded.[2]

Timeline

  • 1614 – including much.[5]
  • 1628 – understanding fully.[5]
  • 1662 – compendious.[5]
  • 1700 – broad in grasp.[5]
  • 1947 – the comprehensive school.[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Including all or nearly all aspects of something; thorough.
  2. Of insurance for a vehicle, covering most risks.
  3. (British) Of a school or system, taking pupils of all abilities.

Noun

  1. (British) A comprehensive school.
  2. (US) An examination covering a whole field of study.

Word family

  • comprehensively
  • comprehensiveness
  • noncomprehensive
  • uncomprehensive
  • comprehend
  • comprehensible
  • comprehension
  • apprehend
  • prehensile
  • prison

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin