comprise

From Middle English comprisen, from Old French compris, past participle of comprendre, from Latin comprehendere, contr. comprendere, past participle comprehensus (“to comprehend”); see comprehend. Compare apprise, reprise, surprise.

• IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɹaɪz/

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• Rhymes: -aɪz

comprise (third-person singular simple present comprises, present participle comprising, simple past and past participle comprised)

1. (transitive) To be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts).^{[usage 1]} [from the earlier 15th c.]

   The whole comprises the parts.

   The parts are comprised by the whole.

   • 2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1-0 Everton”, in BBC Sport:

     Arsenal were playing without a recognised full-back - their defence comprising four centre-halves - and the lack of width was hindering their progress.

2. (sometimes proscribed, usually in the passive) To compose; to constitute.^{[usage 2][usage 3]} [from the 17th c.]

   The whole is comprised of the parts.

   The parts comprise the whole.

   • 1657, Isaac Barrow, Data (Euclid) (translation), Prop. XXX

     "Seeing then the angles comprised of equal right lines are equal, we have found the angle FDE equal to the angle ABC."

   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), pages 377–378:

     Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local color) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.

3. To contain or embrace. [from the earlier 15th c.]

   Our committee comprises a president, secretary, treasurer and five other members.

4. (patent law) To include, contain, or be made up of, defining the minimum elements, whether essential or inessential to define an invention.^{[usage 4]}

   Coordinate term: compose (close-ended)

• (to compose): form, make up; see also Thesaurus:compose

• comprehensive

• comprised of on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “comprise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “comprise”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• perosmic

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comprise f sg

1. feminine singular of compris