apprehensive

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adjective ap·pre·hen·sive \ˌa-pri-ˈhen(t)-siv\

Definition of apprehensive

1 : viewing the future with anxiety or alarm : feeling or showing fear or apprehension about the future … many adults who do not think twice about the risks of driving an automobile are apprehensive about flying. — Henry Petroski
2 : capable of understanding or quick to do so : discerning
3 : having awareness or knowledge of something : cognizant

apprehensively

adverb

apprehensiveness

noun

See apprehensive defined for English-language learners

See apprehensive defined for kids

Examples of apprehensive in a Sentence

When the Crossroads Rhode Island social services agency switched to a 401(k) retirement plan from a pension last year, it added a feature that made some employees apprehensive. To ensure that as many employees as possible saved for retirement, the Providence nonprofit chose to automatically enroll all its workers into the 401(k) plan and deduct a minimum of 4 percent from their paychecks. —Andrew Caffrey, Boston Sunday Globe, 2 Oct. 2005
… Sargent, a shrewder character, was apprehensive about how the portrait would be viewed by the conventional crowds for whom a day out at the Salon was a social fixture in the Paris calendar. He was right. The public saw nothing lovely in this pallid, long- nosed woman with her prominent chin and superior smile. —Miranda Seymour, New York Times Book Review, 28 Sept. 2003
I arrived at my first Lamaze class the same way I showed up for my baby showers and ob-gyn appointments: a little excited, a little apprehensive, but mostly obediently, because it's what you're supposed to do when you're pregnant. —Paula Spencer, Parenting, April 1997
I'm fully apprehensive of the options, I assure you.

Recent Examples of apprehensive from the Web

This misleading claim explains why the other 27 EU countries were apprehensive about the government’s approach to Brexit.

— The Economist, "The six flavours of Brexit," 22 July 2017
Pendergrast and Yerrid, who will soon find out the sexes of their babies, are excited but apprehensive about their impending arrivals.

— melody chiu, PEOPLE.com, "Twins on the Way for Married at First Sight Alum Nick Pendergrast," 13 July 2017
Contradictory statements emerging from the Trump administration have made some long-time US allies apprehensive, observed a former senior US official.

— ivan watson and pamela boykoff, CNN, "US defense chief: 'Americans will do the right thing' in Pacific," 3 June 2017
In the capital, many are struggling to survive amid rampant inflation, and residents remain deeply apprehensive about the future.

— zeina karam, The Seattle Times, "In Damascus, a general feeling that the war is winding down," 1 June 2017
The comedian’s comedian Andrea Savage created and wrote the series and stars as a neo-soccer mom — self-absorbed, abrasive and anxious to please — and the show finds the perfect use for Tom Everett Scott as her loyal but apprehensive husband.

— mike hale, New York Times, "The Summer TV Lineup: 13 Series to Watch," 25 May 2017
The largely Latino workforce was initially apprehensive about cannabis, DeAngelo said.

— The Cannabist, "From chrysanthemums to cannabis: the ‘Green rush’ in Salinas Valley," 23 May 2017
Our students, our faculty, our staff are understandably concerned and apprehensive.

— luz lazo, Washington Post, "Authorities investigating whether U.-Md. stabbing death was a hate crime," 21 May 2017
Consumers already apprehensive about affordable housing in South Florida will take little comfort in the latest price increases for existing single-family homes.

— paul owers, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Are South Florida home prices rising too fast?," 15 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'apprehensive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

How has the meaning of apprehensive changed over time?

When Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar “And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive,” he was not using the word apprehensive with the meaning which we so often encounter today (“viewing the future with anxiety or alarm”). The Bard was using the word’s older meaning of “capable of understanding or quick to do so” or “showing insight and understanding.” Apprehensive has shifted its meaning considerably in the seven hundred or so years it has been inhabiting our language. Its earliest meanings had to do with apprehension, to be sure, but it was apprehension meaning “the act of learning,” (a sense that is now obsolete) or “the act or faculty or grasping with the intellect.” The words apprehensive and apprehension both have roots in the Latin words prehendere meaning “to seize.”

Origin and Etymology of apprehensive

see apprehension

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

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Synonym Discussion of apprehensive

fearful, apprehensive, afraid mean disturbed by fear. fearful implies often a timorous or worrying temperament. the child is fearful of loud noises apprehensive suggests a state of mind and implies a premonition of evil or danger. apprehensive of being found out afraid often suggests weakness or cowardice and regularly implies inhibition of action or utterance. afraid to speak the truth