# comprehension

/ˌkɑmpɹiˈhɛnʃən/ (US) · /kˌɒmpɹɪhˈɛnʃən/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/comprehension
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. understanding

noun · CEFR B2

the ability to understand something completely.

For teachers: the capacity for understanding fully; the act or state of grasping the meaning, nature, or importance of something.

- The complex instructions were completely beyond my comprehension.
- The sheer scale of the environmental disaster was beyond the comprehension of the local authorities, who struggled to coordinate an effective response.

### 2. educational exercise

noun · CEFR B1

a test or exercise that measures how well you understand a piece of writing or speech.

For teachers: an exercise or assessment designed to measure a student's understanding of a written or spoken text.

- For homework, please read the story and answer the comprehension questions.
- The advanced listening comprehension exam required students to identify subtle nuances in the speakers' tones and regional accents.

### 3. programming syntax

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a short way to create a list or collection in some computer languages.

For teachers: a syntactic construct available in some programming languages for creating a collection based on existing collections.

- Using a list comprehension makes your Python code much shorter and easier to read.
- The developer refactored the nested loops into a single list comprehension to improve the readability and performance of the data processing script.

Usage: Commonly used in the phrase 'list comprehension'.

### 4. logic/philosophy

noun · CEFR C2 · Academic · Formal

the set of qualities or characteristics that define a concept.

For teachers: the sum of the attributes or characters that comprise a concept; the intension of a term.

- In logic, increasing the comprehension of a term usually decreases its extension.
- The philosopher argued that the comprehension of the term 'justice' had shifted significantly across different historical epochs.

## Examples

- The reading test measures your level of comprehension.
- The teacher provided a series of questions to check the students' comprehension of the complex historical text.
- While the technical details were accurate, the sheer density of the prose hindered the general public's comprehension of the scientific discovery.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.