comprehensive
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.including all or nearly all the facts, details, or items that are needed.
adj.covering a broad range of elements or including all necessary details; exhaustive in scope.
Simple“The city guide provides a comprehensive list of all the best restaurants.”
In context“The researchers conducted a comprehensive review of the existing literature before proposing their new hypothesis to the faculty.”
UsageOften used to describe lists, studies, insurance, or reviews.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a secondary school in the UK for children of all abilities.
n.a secondary school in the United Kingdom that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or financial means.
Simple“Most children in this town go to the local comprehensive.”
In context“After the educational reforms of the 1960s, many traditional grammar schools were converted into large comprehensives to promote social equality.”
Teacher's tipThis noun sense is specific to the British education system; American speakers would typically say 'public high school'.
Synonymsstate schoolAntonymsgrammar schoolprivate school
comprehensive vs comprehensible — Comprehensive covers everything in a set; comprehensible is simply easy to understand.
comprehensive vs understandable — Comprehensive means including everything; understandable means easy to follow or grasp.
Usage comprehensive analysis
“In the US, there is no comprehensive law protecting or governing the collection, use or sale of people's personal data.”
“So far, there is no declared and comprehensive American vision of what is expected of Damascus.”
Borrowed from late Middle French compréhensif, from Late Latin comprehēnsīvus, from Latin comprehendō.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.