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Definition of apprehension
1 : suspicion or fear especially of future evil : foreboding an atmosphere of nervous apprehension
2 : seizure by legal process : arrest apprehension of a criminal
3a : the act or power of perceiving or comprehending something a person of dull apprehensionb : the result of apprehending something mentally : conception according to popular apprehension
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apprehension was our Word of the Day on 07/02/2015. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of apprehension in a Sentence
The thought of moving to a new city fills me with apprehension.
an increased number of apprehensions
Recent Examples of apprehension from the Web
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Going public helps alleviate some of those apprehensions, Harty said.
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As of late Thursday afternoon, the DOC had not reported his apprehension.
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The dog assisted in narcotics detection, tracking, building searches, and apprehensions.
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She is charged with money laundering and hindering the apprehension of a felon and has been free on bond since January 2016.
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A dog will sense your apprehension and act accordingly.
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April 2017 had the smallest number of Border Patrol apprehensions in five years, at 15,780.
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There was initial apprehension to the process, and some parishioners were afraid of moving forward, but now with a plan in place, that seems to be dissipating.
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Later, when the silence vow was over, a young man approached me with a blend of amusement and apprehension.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'apprehension'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Latin Helps Build apprehension
The Latin verb prehendere really grabs our attention. It means "to grasp" or "to seize," and it is an ancestor of various English words. It teamed up with the prefix ad- (which takes the form ap- before p and means "to," "toward," or "near") to form apprehendere, the Latin predecessor of our words apprehension, apprehend, and apprehensive. When prehendere joined the prefix com- ("with," "together," "jointly"), Latin got comprehendere, and English eventually got comprehend, comprehension, and comprehensive. Prehendere also gave us the words comprise, prehensile ("adapted for seizing or grasping"), prison, reprehend, and reprise, among others.
Origin and Etymology of apprehension
Middle English, from Late Latin apprehension-, apprehensio, from Latin apprehendere —see apprehend
APPREHENSION Defined for Kids
Law Dictionary
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See words that rhyme with apprehension Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for apprehension Spanish Central: Translation of apprehension Nglish: Translation of apprehension for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of apprehension for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about apprehension
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