Make Your Point > Archived Issues > COMPRISE

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pronounce COMPRISE: Say it "come PRIZE." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: The word comprise is very formal. So is one of its close cousins, the word __prise, which means "to officially inform or update people about something." Can you recall it? Like comprise, it's based on the Latin prehendere, meaning "to seize or grasp." (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)     definition: "Comprise" has Latin bits that mean "to take together." Of course, "to take together" can mean all sorts of things, and so over the centuries, "comprise" has taken on dozens of meanings in English. The most common meaning today is this one: When something comprises things, it contains them, includes them, or is made up of them. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Verb, the transitive kind: "This chart comprises the hundred most common guitar chords." Other forms:  Comprised, comprising, comprisable. how to use it: Pick the formal, common, powerful-sounding word "comprise" when you need to strike an especially serious or businesslike tone as you're describing how some group or category is made up of a certain set of parts, pieces, or sections. This way, you get to avoid the wimpy little verb "have." That is, instead of saying "Our company has branches in fifteen countries," you can say "Our company comprises branches in fifteen countries." Ooh, very impressive. So that's basically how we use the word: we say that something comprises its parts, as in "This library system comprises six locations." Now, if you pride yourself on the erudition of your speech, then you might want to draw a distinction between the words "comprise" and "compose." Assuming you care about strict or old-fashioned diction, then the two words are quite different, almost opposites. Here's how the language expert Charles Harrington Elster explains it: "In strict usage, comprise means to include, contain, consist of, be composed of... Do not say the United States is comprised of fifty states, or that fifty states comprise the United States... you should say the United States comprises (contains or consists of) fifty states." But--and this is a pretty big but--notice how Elster prefaces the suggestion by saying it applies only "in strict usage." The world of strict usage is a small one, and it's getting smaller, I think. Outside that small world, where English is constantly evolving, dictionaries do acknowledge that "comprise" can mean "compose," including the ultra-authoritative Oxford English Dictionary. They do this because their job is to explain the language not as purists command but as it's actually used--and, in actuality, it's common for writers to use "comprise" when they mean "compose." Check out the second example below from The Verge, where the writer clearly means "compose" when he writes "comprise," and (at the moment, anyways) he hasn't yet been fired from The Verge or tarred and feathered by a mob of purists. Still, should you freely use "comprise" to mean "compose"? I say, nope. Use "compose" if that's what you mean. It's clearer, and "comprise" is often so formal-sounding that it can come off as snooty. examples: "In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness."    — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813 "Prices are also rising, thanks to... the rising cost of key materials, such as the minerals that comprise lithium-ion batteries.*"    — Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 23 June 2022 *The minerals make up the lithium-ion batteries, not the other way around although that would be neato. has this page helped you understand "comprise"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "comprise" without saying "include" or "consist of." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Some group or category) comprises (a certain number of things)." Example: "The Indo-European language family, which includes English as well as French, Russian, Greek, and Hindi, comprises about 144 languages."    — Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, 19971 If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is Crossword Clues: Defining by Rhyming! Check out the given term, and try to complete the definition by supplying a missing rhyming word. That is, to complete the definition below, supply a four-letter word that rhymes with "herd" to finish defining "bevy." To peek at the answer, scroll all the way down. Enjoy! bevy = _ _ _ _ herd review this word: 1. As we've noticed, in strict diction, a near-opposite of COMPRISE is COMPOSE. But in general, a pretty close opposite of COMPRISE is A. PUNISH. B. EXCLUDE. C. RELINQUISH. 2. A sonnet is a smallish, squarish poem that comprises _____. A. fourteen lines of text B. even the most impatient readers C. a tidy arc from tension to resolution Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. A Answer to the game question: bevy = bird herd a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.