Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Apprehension
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
, escaped3.
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.
☞ 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
. 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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Apprehension
APPREHEN'SION
,Noun.
1.
The act of taking or arresting; as, the felon, after his apprehension escaped.2.
The mere contemplation of things without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; the operation of the mind in contemplating ideas, without comparing them with others, or referring them to external objects; simple intellection.3.
An inadequate or imperfect idea, as when the word is applied to our knowledge of God.4.
Opinion; conception; sentiments. In this sense, the word often denotes a belief, founded on sufficient evidence to give preponderation to the mind, but insufficient to induce certainty.To be false, and to be thought false, is all one, in respect of men, who act not according to truth, but apprehension.
In our apprehension, the facts prove the issue.
5.
The faculty by which new ideas are conceived; as, a man of dull apprehension.6.
Fear; suspicion; the prospect of future evil, accompanied with uneasiness of mind.Claudius was in no small apprehension for his own life.
Definition 2024
apprehension
apprehension
See also: appréhension
English
Noun
apprehension (plural apprehensions)
- (rare) The physical act of seizing or taking hold of; seizure.
- 2006, Phil Senter, "Comparison of Forelimb Function between Deinonychus and Babiraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridea)", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 26, no. 4 (Dec.), p. 905:
- The wing would have been a severe obstruction to apprehension of an object on the ground.
- 2006, Phil Senter, "Comparison of Forelimb Function between Deinonychus and Babiraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridea)", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 26, no. 4 (Dec.), p. 905:
- (law) The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest.
- 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, ch. 37:
- The warrant had been issued for his apprehension on the charge of rioting.
- 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, ch. 37:
- The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception.
- 1815, Percy Bysshe Shelley, "On Life," in A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays (1840 edition):
- We live on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life.
- 1815, Percy Bysshe Shelley, "On Life," in A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays (1840 edition):
- Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.
- 1901, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Penelope's English Experiences, ch. 8:
- We think we get a kind of vague apprehension of what London means from the top of a 'bus better than anywhere else.
- 1901, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Penelope's English Experiences, ch. 8:
- The faculty by which ideas are conceived or by which perceptions are grasped; understanding.
- 1854, Charles Dickens, Hard Times, ch. 7:
- Strangers of limited information and dull apprehension were sometimes observed not to know what a Powler was.
- 1854, Charles Dickens, Hard Times, ch. 7:
- Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; dread or fear at the prospect of some future ill.
- 1846, Herman Melville, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, ch. 32:
- Every circumstance which evinced the savage nature of the beings at whose mercy I was, augmented the fearful apprehensions that consumed me.
- 1846, Herman Melville, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, ch. 32:
Usage notes
- Apprehension springs from a sense of danger when somewhat remote, but approaching; alarm arises from danger when announced as near at hand. Apprehension is less agitated and more persistent; alarm is more agitated and transient.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Translations
seizure
arrest
act of grasping with the intellect
|
opinion
faculty by which ideas are conceived
distrust or fear at the prospect of future evil
References
- apprehension at OneLook Dictionary Search
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.