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comprise

   Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.05 sec.
com·prise  (km-prz)
tr.v. com·prised, com·pris·ing, com·pris·es
1. To consist of; be composed of: "The French got ... French Equatorial Africa, comprising several territories" Alex Shoumatoff.
2. To include; contain: "The word 'politics' ... comprises, in itself, a difficult study of no inconsiderable magnitude" Charles Dickens. See Synonyms at include.
3. Usage Problem To compose; constitute: "Put together the slaughterhouses, the steel mills, the freight yards ... that comprised the city" Saul Bellow.

[Middle English comprisen, from Old French compris, past participle of comprendre, to include, from Latin comprehendere, comprndere; see comprehend.]

com·prisa·ble adj.
Usage Note: The traditional rule states that the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole. In strict usage: The Union comprises 50 states. Fifty states compose (or constitute or make up) the Union. Even though careful writers often maintain this distinction, comprise is increasingly used in place of compose, especially in the passive: The Union is comprised of 50 states. Our surveys show that opposition to this usage is abating. In the 1960s, 53 percent of the Usage Panel found this usage unacceptable; in 1996, only 35 percent objected. See Usage Note at include.

comprise
Verb
[-prising, -prised]
1. to be made up of: the group comprised six French diplomats, five Italians and three Bulgarians
2. to form or make up: women comprised 57 per cent of all employees, but less than 10 per cent of managers [French compris included]
USAGE: The use of of after comprise should be avoided: the library comprises (not comprises of) 500 000 books and manuscripts.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Verb1.comprise - be composed of; "The land he conquered comprised several provinces"; "What does this dish consist of?"
be - have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a good answer"
2.comprise - include or contain; have as a component; "A totally new idea is comprised in this paper"; "The record contains many old songs from the 1930's"
include - have as a part, be made up out of; "The list includes the names of many famous writers"
3.comprise - form or compose; "This money is my only income"; "The stone wall was the backdrop for the performance"; "These constitute my entire belonging"; "The children made up the chorus"; "This sum represents my entire income for a year"; "These few men comprise his entire army"
make - constitute the essence of; "Clothes make the man"
compose - form the substance of; "Greed and ambition composed his personality"
form, constitute, make - to compose or represent:"This wall forms the background of the stage setting"; "The branches made a roof"; "This makes a fine introduction"
straddle, range - range or extend over; occupy a certain area; "The plants straddle the entire state"
fall into, fall under - be included in or classified as; "This falls under the rubric 'various'"
pose, present - introduce; "This poses an interesting question"
supplement - serve as a supplement to; "Vitamins supplemented his meager diet"

comprise
verb 1. be composed of, include, contain, consist of, take in, embrace, encompass, comprehend
verb 2. make up, form, constitute, compose
USAGE The use of of after comprise should be avoided: the library comprises (not comprises of) 6,500,000 books and manuscripts. Consist, however, should be followed by of when used in this way: Her crew consisted of children from Devon and Cornwall.
Translations
Spanish comprise [kəmˈpraɪz] vt (also: be comprised of) → comprender, constar de
French comprise [kəmˈpraɪz] vt (also: be comprised of) → comprendre (= constitute); constituer, représenter
German comprise [kəmˈpraɪz] vt (also: be comprised of) → bestehen aus;
(constitute) → bilden, ausmachen

Italian comprise [kəmˈpraɪz] vt (also: be comprised of) → comprendere

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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
It occurred to me that a work of this kind might comprise a variety of those curious details, so interesting to me, illustrative of the fur trade; of its remote and adventurous enterprises, and of the various people, and tribes, and castes, and characters, civilized and savage, affected by its operations.
I have in this edition largely condensed and corrected some parts, and have added a little to others, in order to render the volume more fitted for popular reading; but I trust that naturalists will remember, that they must refer for details to the larger publications which comprise the scientific results of the Expedition.
My reader then is not to be surprized, if, in the course of this work, he shall find some chapters very short, and others altogether as long; some that contain only the time of a single day, and others that comprise years; in a word, if my history sometimes seems to stand still, and sometimes to fly.
 
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