Category:Comprehensive

Com`pre*hen"sive, a. Etym: [Cf. F. compréhensif.]

1. Including much; comprising many things; having a wide scope or a full view. A very comprehensive definition. Bentley. Large and comprehensive idea. Channing.

2. Having the power to comprehend or understand many things. "His comprehensive head." Pope.

3. (Zoöl.)

Defn: Possessing peculiarities that are characteristic of several diverse groups.

Note: The term is applied chiefly to early fossil groups which have a combination of structures that appear in more fully developed or specialized forms in later groups. Synthetic, as used by Agssiz, is nearly synonymous.

Syn. -- Extensive; wide; large; full; compendious.