Definitions: (1) having an extensive intellectual range with understanding; (2) able to perceive the relationships of a group of facts or ideas; enjoying to a large mental extent; (3) able to grasp the nature, significance, scope, or implication of ideas; covering thoughts broadly; (4) able to size up a situation
Derivation: Latin, “to catch, thus capture, and finally possess”
Familial Quality: open
Quotes:
• The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. — Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist
• Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond. — Hypatia (c. 350–370 to 415 AD) Egyptian philosopher, astronomer, & mathematician
• It is the harmony of the diverse parts, their symmetry, their happy balance; in a word it is all that introduces order, all that gives unity, that permits us to see clearly and to comprehend at once both the ensemble and the details. — Jules Henri Poincare (1854-1912) French mathematician