Dictionary

comprise

Etymology

From Middle English comprisen, from Old French compris, past participle of comprendre, from Latin comprehendere, contr.

Pronunciation

Verb

comprise (comprises, present participle comprising; simple past and past participle comprised)

(transitive) To be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts). [from the earlier 15th c.]
The whole comprises the parts.
The parts are comprised by the whole.
(sometimes, proscribed, usually in the passive) To compose; to constitute. [from the late 18th c.]
The whole is comprised of the parts.
The parts comprise the whole.
- 1657, Isaac Barrow, Data (Euclid) (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."
- 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey's Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC ↗, chapter I (Anarchy), pages 377–378 ↗:
  Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local color) 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.
To contain or embrace. [from the earlier 15th c.]
Our committee comprises a president, secretary, treasurer and five other members.
(patent law) To include, contain, or be made up of, defining the minimum elements, whether essential or inessential to define an invention.
Coordinate term: compose (close-ended)

Synonyms

Related terms

Translations

Translations

Translations

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