Definitions for: Apprehension


[n] the act of apprehending (especially apprehending a criminal); "the policeman on the beat got credit for the collar"
[n] the cognitive condition of someone who understands; "he has virtually no understanding of social cause and effect"
[n] painful expectation
[n] fearful expectation or anticipation; "the student looked around the examination room with apprehension"



Webster (1913) Definition: Ap`pre*hen"sion, n. [L. apprehensio: cf. F.
appr['e]hension. See Apprehend.]
1. The act of seizing or taking hold of; seizure; as, the
hand is an organ of apprehension. --Sir T. Browne.

2. The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest; as,
the felon, after his apprehension, escaped.

3. The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation
of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any
judgment; intellection; perception.

Simple apprehension denotes no more than the soul's
naked intellection of an object. --Glanvill.

4. Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.

Note: In this sense, the word often denotes a belief, founded
on sufficient evidence to give preponderation to the
mind, but insufficient to induce certainty; as, in our
apprehension, the facts prove the issue.

To false, and to be thought false, is all one in
respect of men, who act not according to truth,
but apprehension. --South.

5. The faculty by which ideas are conceived; understanding;
as, a man of dull apprehension.

6. Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; distrust or
fear at the prospect of future evil.

After the death of his nephew Caligula, Claudius was
in no small apprehension for his own life.
--Addison.

Syn: Apprehension, Alarm.

Usage: Apprehension springs from a sense of danger when
somewhat remote, but approaching; alarm arises from
danger when announced as near at hand. Apprehension is
calmer and more permanent; alarm is more agitating and
transient.

Synonyms: apprehensiveness, arrest, catch, collar, discernment, dread, misgiving, pinch, savvy, taking into custody, understanding

See Also: appreciation, boding, brainstorm, brainwave, capture, chill, comprehension, expectation, fear, fearfulness, foreboding, fright, gaining control, gloom, gloominess, grasp, grasping, hold, insight, knowing, outlook, pall, premonition, presentiment, prospect, realisation, realization, recognition, seizure, self-knowledge, smattering, somberness, suspense, trepidation

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