comprise

«comprise» in Mova's school dictionary: To be made up of certain parts; to consist of — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

verb (comprise, comprises, comprised, comprising)

meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To be made up of certain parts; to consist of. tree →

2) (formal) To make up or form a whole (this use is common but some people think it is wrong). tree →

sense in the lessons

A formal exam and report word: "the class comprises 15 boys and 12 girls" means the class is made of them, so there are 27 children. Phrases: comprise of (disputed), be comprised of.

examples

• The class comprises 15 boys and 12 girls. tree →
• The team comprises eleven players. tree →
• A week comprises seven days. tree →
• The house comprises three bedrooms and a kitchen. tree →
• The test comprised twenty questions. tree →
• Water is comprised of hydrogen and oxygen. tree →
• The sword was the sword of Murakumo, one of the three sacred treasures which comprise the insignia of the Imperial House of Japan. tree →

note

Strict rule: "comprises" without "of" (the whole comprises the parts). "Is comprised of" is common but criticised; "consists of" is safer. In maths, "comprises" lists the parts that add up to the whole: add them to find the total.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «comprise» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.