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incomprehension
noun
in·com·pre·hen·sion
(ˌ)in-ˌkäm-pri-ˈhen(t)-shən
: lack of comprehension or understanding
Synonyms
Examples of incomprehension in a Sentence
She gave me a look of complete incomprehension.
He viewed the situation with incomprehension.
Recent Examples on the Web
The current queen is Hannah Neeleman, a homesteading mother of eight, who milks cows, bakes, dances, and takes part in beauty pageants, to the delight and incomprehension of her followers.
—Sophie Elmhirst, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2024
What remains is Menzies’s Lucas, a man in the eye of a maelstrom, initially mired in impassive incomprehension until a particularly brutal act shocks him into fury.
—Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 25 Feb. 2024
The look on Mann’s face effectively shows the incomprehension this horror demands.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 24 Jan. 2024
The death of John Mahoney, in 2018, robbed the revival of another beloved character, the Crane brothers’ proudly proletarian father; an audience surrogate, Martin regarded his sons with supercilious incomprehension from his lumpy recliner, beer in hand.
—Colin Marshall, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2023
The mutual incomprehension and tensions between the French state, and the many citizens who are convinced the protests have a legitimacy founded in a pattern of police violence against minorities, was palpable in Nanterre.
—Roger Cohen, BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2023
There was also a marked incomprehension on some readers’ parts of metaphor as a concept.
—Hazlitt, 12 Apr. 2023
The third is intellectual and implicit, encompassing the complexities of historical incomprehension that characterize the other two.
—Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 3 May 2023
With its firmly material elusiveness, the movie builds a mighty emotional complex of family tragedy, the horrors of war, the mutual incomprehension of parents and children, the unslaked anguish of married life, and the inescapable presence of the dead.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'incomprehension.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1605, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near incomprehension
Cite this Entry
“Incomprehension.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incomprehension. Accessed 16 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
incomprehension
noun
in·com·pre·hen·sion
(ˌ)in-ˌkäm-pri-ˈhen-chən
: lack of understanding
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