Home British & World English comprehensive

Definition of comprehensive in English:

comprehensive

adjective

  • 1Including or dealing with all or nearly all elements or aspects of something.

    ‘a comprehensive list of sources’
    • ‘From a comprehensive list of nearly 1,600 daily newspapers, 500 newspapers were selected using standard interval sampling.’
    • ‘The Guide contains a comprehensive list of businesses and services in the town and contains a very useful street map of Ballinrobe.’
    • ‘Its Explore Kodiak guide has a comprehensive list of outfitters and free activities.’
    • ‘More and more colleges and universities are developing comprehensive diversity plans to guide changes in campus policies and procedures.’
    • ‘Currently the only possible source for a comprehensive list of travellers, as we've already established, lies in the carriers' passenger lists.’
    • ‘The training videos contain comprehensive information on all aspects of good environmental practice at farm level, presented in an interesting and stimulating manner.’
    • ‘It called for constituting a committee to conduct a comprehensive review of all aspects of the party's performance and make recommendations for future plan of action.’
    • ‘That was one element within a comprehensive report.’
    • ‘Both states signed their treaties claiming they were elements of a comprehensive peace.’
    • ‘Though a large volume of literature is available on the issues discussed in the book it is a comprehensive treatise on related aspects of food and nutrition and the editors have taken pain to deal with every aspect.’
    • ‘This comprehensive volume of nearly 600 poems, many accompanied by the Spanish original, bursts with evocative images.’
    • ‘This will include the development of a comprehensive manual for all aspects of driver licencing including that of driving schools and instructors.’
    • ‘The entire nightmare could have been avoided had he kept comprehensive documentation of his dealings with the plaintiffs.’
    • ‘But these are unavoidable aspects of a comprehensive exposition of any subject.’
    • ‘I thought he was fairly comprehensive in his coverage of various issues.’
    • ‘The documentary shows its age, but it provides a fairly comprehensive overview of the legendary director.’
    • ‘Seeing the problems his students faced, Mr. Silman has created the first comprehensive strategic guide in dictionary form.’
    • ‘The result is the first comprehensive analysis of preventable patient deaths linked to infections within 5,810 hospitals nationally.’
    • ‘Some sites offer links to others and through such links a reasonably comprehensive list can be obtained.’
    • ‘Take a peek at our comprehensive guide to dining out in the city.’
    diverse, diversified, wide, broad, broad-based, eclectic, indiscriminate
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1Of large content or scope; wide-ranging.
      ‘a comprehensive collection of photographs’
      • ‘Its thorough research and comprehensive scope should prove invaluable for anyone seriously interested in the subject.’
      • ‘The design phase is comprehensive in scope, tackling everything from content and design to functionality and user interface.’
      • ‘The Senate Inquiry into mandatory sentencing was broad-ranging, thorough and comprehensive in terms of scope and evidence.’
      • ‘This is a wide ranging and comprehensive survey of children and the experience of childhood.’
      • ‘Making broad scope, comprehensive documentaries about an event the magnitude of World War II is a tall order, often with less than satisfactory results.’
      • ‘Because it is comprehensive in scope and specific in detail, it can eliminate the ambiguities that exist in most partnerships.’
      • ‘The volume does not cover all issues in detail and it was not intended to be comprehensive in scope.’
      • ‘Sir Gawaine's British West Indies collection is part of a wider comprehensive collection of stamps from Great Britain and the British Empire.’
      • ‘The authors make no claims for completeness, indeed are transparent about the gaps, yet this book is impressively comprehensive in scale, scope and analytical range.’
      • ‘Yet, inevitably, the comprehensive scope of Ackroyd's book requires that he sometimes sacrifice elaboration for example, depth for breadth.’
      • ‘Naval historians would do well to familiarize themselves with his style of narrative, his comprehensive coverage, and scope of research.’
      • ‘Unbelievable in its comprehensive scope, the vast material supports a view of Africa as the archetypal artistic environment.’
      • ‘Although debate on the measure was fairly abbreviated, the resulting measure was comprehensive in both its scope and design.’
      • ‘Their collaborative research is quite comprehensive in its scope.’
      • ‘It combines a comprehensive scope, concisely written entries and the best in current biblical scholarship.’
      • ‘The Convention is extraordinarily comprehensive in scope.’
      • ‘This presentation is comprehensive in scope but lacks much historical analysis.’
      • ‘The Guardian's more comprehensive survey also came up with far higher job losses than the government admits.’
      • ‘Their collaborative research is quite comprehensive in its scope.’
      • ‘The volume does not cover all issues in detail and it was not intended to be comprehensive in scope.’
      inclusive, all-inclusive, complete
      View synonyms
    2. 1.2(of a victory or defeat) achieved or suffered by a large margin.
      ‘a comprehensive victory for Swansea’
      • ‘Almost immediately afterwards, the Under-17s cemented victory in their own league with a comprehensive defeat of visitors Sandbach.’
      • ‘However, this was a very comprehensive victory, a complete team performance.’
      • ‘Brookes added the goal to complete a comprehensive victory for Albion.’
      • ‘With his opponent looking tired, Khan took full advantage landing plenty of powerful shots to secure a comprehensive victory.’
      • ‘But Cameron could not argue that Thursday's decisive victory was comprehensive, because his forward march appears to have ground to a halt at the northern boundaries of Middle England.’
      • ‘After their comprehensive defeat at Scarborough last Saturday, York will be looking to get their Oxbridge ECB Yorkshire Premier League programme back on the rails this weekend.’
      • ‘The Oxford Kings' defense struggled through the first five innings of Sunday's game against the Cambridge Monarchs, allowing the Tabs to take eight runs on the way to a comprehensive victory.’
      • ‘Selby Warriors also won their first game in PN division five, albeit by only a single point, and they will be looking for a more comprehensive victory on Saturday as they visit the hapless Panthers.’
      • ‘Deputy head teacher Patrick Earnshaw, who witnessed the school's comprehensive victory at Kendal Town Hall on Thursday night, said he was extremely proud of his students.’
      • ‘Gloucester were a distant second-best as 12,500 Munster fans roared their side on to a comprehensive victory which gives them an away quarter-final in April.’
      • ‘The last thing they need now is this afternoon's game at Leeds, who will be desperate to recover from the disappointment of Wednesday's comprehensive defeat by Real Madrid.’
      • ‘Last October's comprehensive defeats by the Irish at both senior and under-21 levels on their own soil shows Kelly that the opposition has stepped up a gear.’
      • ‘Hamed, back for the first time since his comprehensive defeat to Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas, looked sluggish and occasionally even disinterested.’
      • ‘Three minutes after Hartson made it three, Petrov made it four and what was looking like a comprehensive victory started heading inexorably towards a humiliation.’
      • ‘Oxford UCCE women's cricket team began this season as they finished the last - with a comprehensive victory over their Cambridge rivals.’
      • ‘Their comprehensive defeat was confounded even further yesterday when they visited Yorkshire Academy in the League Cup quarter-finals.’
      • ‘Salford's comprehensive victory laid down a significant marker ahead of the play-offs and will have created considerable doubt in Leigh minds.’
      • ‘Cork's attack was toothless that day and, in a game that was stuffy for long enough, Tipperary's eight-point victory was comprehensive.’
      • ‘Richmond continued their domination in both league and cup with a comprehensive victory over Dorking in the Surrey Cup quarter-finals.’
      • ‘Blue is the colour in North Yorkshire today after the Conservative Party swept to a comprehensive victory in the county council elections.’
    3. 1.3(of motor-vehicle insurance) providing cover for most risks, including damage to the policyholder's own vehicle.
      • ‘Some cost items will differ for different vehicle types, notably comprehensive insurance, but in the main it is reasonable to use fleet size.’
      • ‘Is it possible to take out one insurance policy, preferably comprehensive, that would cover us all to drive either of the cars?’
      • ‘The good news for motorists with fully comprehensive insurance is that they are covered if their car has water damage.’
      • ‘He agreed only after ensuring that he was covered under the defendant's comprehensive car insurance policy.’
      • ‘For example, a 56-year-old driving a 2001 Toyota Avensis received a quote of €735 from Axa for comprehensive insurance.’
      • ‘He thought that all drivers should be made to have fully comprehensive insurance and that driving jobs should be given to local people.’
      • ‘This insurance is designed to protect motorists from payout shortfalls that could arise between the original price paid for a car and the comprehensive insurance payout in the case of loss.’
      • ‘It must be comprehensive insurance, because you're driving someone else's car.’
      • ‘If you happen to own a posh motor, or are particularly accident-prone, then you might consider taking out fully comprehensive insurance.’
      • ‘Motorists with fully comprehensive insurance mistakenly think they have insurance for the contents of their car along with the car itself.’
      • ‘Even those who have fully comprehensive motor insurance while driving in the UK need to check, as most policies only offer third-party cover on the continent.’
      • ‘The cost of comprehensive motor insurance has almost doubled, rising by 86%.’
      • ‘A typical comprehensive and collision policy will usually only cover the fair market value for your car.’

  • 2British Relating to or denoting a system of secondary education in which children of all abilities from a particular area are educated in one school.

    ‘a comprehensive school’
    • ‘It is important that all schools see themselves, and are seen, as part of a comprehensive system of secondary education.’
    • ‘The comprehensive education system was last night seized upon as a key factor in reducing the chances of Scots born between 1967 and 1976 bettering themselves.’
    • ‘Is the comprehensive education system to blame for making these teachers' jobs practically impossible?’
    • ‘The whole point of a comprehensive education system is to encourage the best and brightest pupils not merely to educate those with rich parents who went to private schools.’
    • ‘Before the comprehensive state education systems were established, there had been some local control of schools and some local funds raised for them.’
    • ‘Mike says the play, which criticises the values that prevail in the comprehensive school education system, is ideal for young performers.’
    • ‘New Zealand has a fully comprehensive education system.’
    • ‘Historically, comprehensive secondary education in mixed-ability schools was first introduced by Labour.’
    • ‘Northern Ireland still uses the selective grammar school system that was largely replaced by comprehensive education in Britain in the 1970s.’
    • ‘League tables have led to a systematic attack on comprehensive education.’
    • ‘For her, as for much of the Scottish educational establishment, the comprehensive system is sacrosanct.’
    • ‘The expansion of higher education has been on the back of comprehensive education.’
    • ‘She supports comprehensive education and opposes selection.’
    • ‘I don't believe we'd have the made the progress we have with girls' education without comprehensive education.’
    • ‘We have given long-standing support to comprehensive education and we stand by that.’
    • ‘Supporters of the comprehensive system pointed to the figures as evidence that selective education in the state sector was unnecessary.’
    • ‘Because of the spread of comprehensive education from the mid-1960s, by 1990 only about 7 per cent of local authorities had retained grammar schools.’
    • ‘Catholic students entered University as never before, and were further aided by the introduction of comprehensive education.’
    • ‘He introduced comprehensive education, women's emancipation legislation, and reforms in higher education.’
    • ‘I have fought for comprehensive education all my life, including during the 20 years I have been at Kingsland.’

  • 3archaic Relating to understanding.

noun

British

  • A comprehensive school.

    ‘he trained as an accountant after leaving the local comprehensive’
    ‘when I was 14 I was at comprehensive’
    • ‘About 12,000 pupils went on to study at the same 400 selective grammar schools or top-rated comprehensives.’
    • ‘The majority of these producers did not attend fee-paying schools; more went to grammar schools or comprehensives.’
    • ‘City academies - independent comprehensives part-funded by the private sector - and specialist schools will not be introduced north of the Border.’
    • ‘The snuffing out of that option, by the ideologically driven determination to replace grammar schools with comprehensives, was a quite explicit piece of social engineering.’
    • ‘All but one of the top 26 state schools nationally were comprehensives.’
    • ‘Some of us were going to private schools or comprehensives, so we didn't have to take it.’
    • ‘In England they have been transforming failed comprehensives into specialist schools and city academies.’
    • ‘We do not argue that public comprehensives jettison their professional and technical programs.’
    • ‘‘There is no point at which grammar schools exceed the performance of comprehensives at teaching able pupils,’ he said at the time.’
    • ‘In the latest set of school league tables, comprehensives are getting results as good as or higher than grammar schools in the ‘value added’ part of the table.’
    • ‘As today's exclusive survey shows, a massive gulf separates Bradford's highest-flying comprehensives from those with lower scores.’
    • ‘People power has forced councillors to rethink plans to change school catchment areas and bar scores of pupils from their local comprehensives.’
    • ‘About half went to fee-paying schools and the rest to state grammars and comprehensives.’
    • ‘A Guardian leak suggests that one of the most scandalous proposals, letting ‘public’ schools take over comprehensives, may be restricted to London.’
    • ‘Plans to rebuild two other comprehensives - Beckfoot and Grange Technology College - plus new special schools will be included in a ‘second wave’ bid to be put in over the next few weeks.’
    • ‘We should be defending mixed local comprehensives.’
    • ‘Laidlaw has given assurances that his schools would remain comprehensives and would take everyone from the catchment area.’
    • ‘More recently, he has declared opposition to comprehensives and support for the return of grammar schools.’
    • ‘More than one in five teachers who taught some maths in comprehensives had nothing better than an A-Level in the subject, and the proportion fell to just over half in the case of RE.’
    • ‘Instead, many went to council-run comprehensives and attended newer universities or none.’

Origin

Early 17th century from French compréhensif, -ive, from late Latin comprehensivus, from the verb comprehendere ‘grasp mentally’.

Pronunciation

comprehensive

/kɒmprɪˈhɛnsɪv/