All 6 Uses of
comprehend
in
The Chrysalids
- I hesitated, but childhood is a time thickly beset with incomprehensible, though important, conventions, so I withdrew a few yards and turned my back.†
Chpt 1 *incomprehensible = not understandablestandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incomprehensible means not and reverses the meaning of comprehensible. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Alarmed, but uncomprehending, I watched his mouth tighten, his jaw come forward, his brows press together over his still incredulous eyes.†
Chpt 3uncomprehending = not understandingstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in uncomprehending means not and reverses the meaning of comprehending. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- A few of these looks had been warnings enough to each; it was such looks, not comprehended, but clear enough as signs of disapproval just below the verge of suspicion, that had kept us out of trouble.†
Chpt 4comprehended = understood completely
- What comprehension can they have of 'thinking-together' so that two minds are able to do what one could not?†
Chpt 10comprehension = the understanding of something
- It was not comprehensible and it was very blurred — possibly, I thought, because Petra was trying to relay something she could not understand herself.†
Chpt 11
- Now I began to catch Rosalind's thoughts, firming into comprehensible shapes out of a sort of swirl.†
Chpt 15
Definition:
to understand something -- especially to understand it completely