comprehensive

See also: compréhensive

Contents

English

WOTD – 27 August 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from late Middle French compréhensif, from Late Latin comprehensivus, from Latin comprehendo.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒm.pɹɪˈhɛn.sɪv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːm.pɹəˈhɛn.sɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧pre‧hen‧sive

Adjective

comprehensive (comparative more comprehensive, superlative most comprehensive)

1. Broadly or completely covering; including a large proportion of something.

   When there are diametrically opposing views on a big issue that concerns millions of people, doing comprehensive research just makes sense.

Synonyms

• (broadly or completely covering): exhaustive, thorough, all-encompassing

Derived terms

• comprehensively
• comprehensivization
• comprehensivize

Related terms

• comprehend
• comprehensible
• comprehension

Translations

broadly or completely covering

• Armenian: սպառիչ (hy) (spaṙičʿ), համապարփակ (hy) (hamaparpʿak)
• Bulgarian: обшѝрен (bg) (obšìren), подро̀бен (bg) (podròben), обсто̀ен (bg) (obstòen), схватлѝв (bg) (shvatlìv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 全面的 (zh) (quánmiàn de), 綜合的 (zh), 综合的 (zh) (zōnghé de)

• Czech: obsáhlý
• Danish: fyldestgørende, omfattende
• Dutch: omvattend (nl), alomvattend (nl), uitgebreid (nl), diepgaand (nl)
• Esperanto: ampleksa, kompleksa
• Faroese: umfatandi
• Finnish: laaja (fi), kattava (fi)
• French: complet (fr), exhaustif (fr)
• Georgian: სრული (sruli), ყოვლისმომცველი (q̇ovlismomcveli)
• German: umfassend (de)
• Hungarian: átfogó (hu)
• Italian: esaustivo (it)

• Japanese: 包括的な (ほうかつてきな, hōkatuteki-na)
• Korean: 포괄적인 (pogwaljukin)
• Norwegian: grundig (no), omfattende
• Polish: wszechstronny (pl)
• Portuguese: abrangente (pt)
• Romanian: cuprinzător (ro), multilateral (ro) m
• Russian: всесторо́нний (ru) (vsestorónnij), по́лный (ru) (pólnyj), всеобъе́млющий (ru) (vseobʺjémljuščij), исче́рпывающий (ru) (isčérpyvajuščij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: опсежан, обухватан, исцрпан, свеобухватан m

  Roman: opsežan (sh), obuhvatan (sh), iscrpan (sh), sveobuhvatan (sh)

• Slovak: vyčerpávajúci, podrobný, obsiahly
• Spanish: completo (es), exhaustivo (es)
• Swedish: omfattande (sv), uttömmande (sv)
• Tamil: விசாலமான (vicālamāṉa)
• Turkish: şamil (tr), kapsayici, kapsamlı (tr), şümullü (tr) (archaic)
• Ukrainian: всебі́чний (vsebíčnyj), всеося́жний (vseosjážnyj), по́вний (póvnyj), виче́рпний (vyčérpnyj)

Noun

comprehensive (plural comprehensives)

1. (Britain) A comprehensive school.
   • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

     Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

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Latin

Adjective

comprehēnsīve

1. vocative masculine singular of comprehēnsīvus