What does comprisal mean?
Comprisal is a rare English noun meaning the act or fact of comprising — that is, of including or containing parts within a whole. It can also refer to what is so included: the scope or contents of something viewed as a totality. Formed from the verb 'comprise' plus the suffix '-al' on the pattern of nouns such as 'rehearsal' and 'proposal', it belongs to a small class of abstract action-nouns. The word is distinctly formal and uncommon today; most modern writers would express the same idea with 'inclusion', 'incorporation', or simply by using the verb 'comprise'. When it does appear, it tends to surface in legal, academic, or deliberately archaic prose, where its precision about the extent of a whole can be useful. Understanding comprisal also illuminates its relatives: 'comprise' itself, along with 'comprehend' and 'comprehension', all descend from the Latin 'comprehendere', meaning to seize or grasp together — a reminder that to comprise something is, etymologically, to take hold of all its parts at once.
nounThe act or fact of comprising or including; that which is comprised, contained, or taken in within a whole.
- The act or fact of comprising or including something.
- That which is comprised or contained; the contents or scope of something considered as a whole.
"The report's comprisal of every department's findings made it unusually thorough."
"The anthology's wide comprisal made it an ideal survey of the period."
"The contract was criticized for its narrow comprisal of the contractor's obligations."
The plural is rarely used, since the word typically denotes a single abstract act or scope; when it occurs, it refers to multiple distinct instances of comprising.
"The two treaties differ in their respective comprisals of territorial rights."
Every time you say 'comprise', you're one small suffix away from its long-lost cousin 'comprisal' — the act itself, bottled up as a noun.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of comprisal
Comprisal derives from the verb 'comprise', which entered English in the late Middle Ages from Old French 'compris', the past participle of 'comprendre', itself from Latin 'comprehendere' ('to grasp together, to include'). The suffix '-al' was added to form an abstract noun denoting the action concerned, on the pattern of formations like 'rehearsal' and 'survival'. Its closest cognates are therefore the verbs and nouns built on the same Latin root, notably 'comprehend', 'comprehension', and 'comprehensible', which share the sense of grasping or taking in together.
How comprisal is actually used
A formal and decidedly rare word, found mostly in older or legalistic writing; in modern usage writers almost always rephrase using forms of 'comprise' or words like 'inclusion' instead.
Easily confused with comprisal
'Comprise' is the verb describing what a whole does to its parts, whereas 'comprisal' is the rare noun denoting the act or result of that comprising.
'Appraisal' means an assessment or valuation of worth, while 'comprisal' means the act of including or containing.
'Reprisal' means retaliation for an injury or attack, whereas 'comprisal' refers to inclusion within a whole.