Meaning & use
comprehensive
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Covering all, or nearly all, of the important parts of a subject.
Grammar: Before a noun or after be: a comprehensive guide; the list is comprehensive.
Patterns
- comprehensive guide to something
- comprehensive review of something
The book offers a comprehensive guide to the city's history.
The doctor ordered a comprehensive blood test.
Their report was comprehensive but easy to read.
adjectivebefore a nounBritish
Of a school, open to students of all ability levels, with no entrance test.
Grammar: Mostly British: a comprehensive school.
Patterns
- comprehensive school
She attended a comprehensive school in Leeds.
The comprehensive system replaced selective schools.
adjectivebefore a nounbusiness
Of insurance, protecting against most kinds of damage, loss, or theft.
Grammar: Typically used with insurance or cover.
Patterns
- comprehensive insurance
Comprehensive insurance covered the storm damage.
He bought comprehensive cover for his car.
Common combinations
- comprehensive review
- The board ordered a comprehensive review.
- comprehensive guide
- This is a comprehensive guide to hiking.
- comprehensive coverage
- The paper gave comprehensive coverage of the election.
- comprehensive plan
- The city launched a comprehensive plan.
- comprehensive exam
- Seniors take a comprehensive exam.
- comprehensive insurance
- Comprehensive insurance costs more.
Synonyms and how they differ
- thorough
- Thorough stresses careful, detailed work, while comprehensive stresses covering every part.
- complete
- Complete simply means nothing is missing, with no sense of wide scope.
- exhaustive
- Exhaustive implies leaving nothing out, even small details, and is stronger than comprehensive.
- all-inclusive
- All-inclusive is informal and often used for packages and prices.
Opposites
Word family
- comprehensively adverb
- in a complete, wide way
- comprehensiveness noun
- the quality of covering everything
- comprehend verb
- to understand
- comprehension noun
- understanding
Commonly confused: comprehensive or comprehensible?
comprehensive vs comprehensible
Comprehensible means able to be understood; comprehensive means covering everything.
Practice
The report was ___, covering every aspect of the plan.
Choose one answer.
Comprehensive means covering all aspects. Comprehensible means understandable, which is a different quality.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “comprehensive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.