APPREHENDS Synonyms: 99 Similar and Opposite Words

apprehends

verb

present tense third-person singular of apprehend

as in knows

to have a clear idea of do you apprehend the importance of this discovery?

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in arrests

to take or keep under one's control by authority of law the agency charged with apprehending criminals who have violated federal law

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of apprehends John Early, as anyone encountering his work soon apprehends, chooses the latter. — Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 7 June 2026 Though the team immediately apprehends a suspect, the Marshals end up taking criticism from both sides. — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 21 Mar. 2026 Neighbors are now living in fear, looking on as ICE apprehends people of color across Minnesota. — Jason Rantala, CBS News, 19 Jan. 2026 The team successfully seizes two tons of gold and apprehends the leader of the criminal network. — Isabella Wandermurem, Time, 14 Jan. 2026 Suppose the number is read in one case out of a hundred, and that the information reaches someone who apprehends the culprit in one case out of one thousand. — Thomas Brewster, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for apprehends

Verb

His friend, Thomas Shapiro, also knows exactly what Klee is going through.

— Lisa Respers France, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026
At Café Corazón, being a community space extends to what happens when an employee is harassed and whether the staff knows what to do if immigration officers come through the door.

— Stephanie Gravalese, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026

Definition of knows

Verb

Keith arrests our thinking, and cons us into suppressing our critical faculties with the same kind of internalized surveillance that philosopher Michel Foucault broke down to describe a prison’s use of the panopticon in Discipline and Punish.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 May 2026
Devlin throws a punch at Stone when the chief arrests him for drunken driving.

— Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 19 Apr. 2026

Definition of arrests

Verb

Nolan understands how to make popular entertainment that can appeal to and convey its ideas to millions and millions of people.

— Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 1 Aug. 2026
Rather than treating those tensions as problems to be solved, Scoot understands that the future of luxury depends on balancing them, rather than choosing between them.

— Jeetendr Sehdev, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026

Definition of understands

Verb

Better, Cretton seizes small moments to put his stamp on this installment.

— Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026
Rhaenyra, queen of the Blacks, seizes the Iron Throne in King’s Landing with the support of Alicent, who has simply had enough of her unstable and terrible sons.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 13 July 2026

Definition of seizes

Verb

True leadership recognizes that cultural resonance is a durable business asset, and protecting that asset ultimately builds a more resilient company.

— Stefano Marrone, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
The Monroe Police Department asks that anyone who recognizes the man in the security images or has information that can assist in the investigation contact Detective Zimmerman at 734-243-7509 or the Monroe Police at 734-243-7500.

— Paula Wethington, CBS News, 31 July 2026

Definition of recognizes

Verb

The policy guidance applies to agents under Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that detains and ultimately deports undocumented immigrants.

— Philip Wang, Time, 14 July 2026
Alligator Alcatraz houses a few hundred employees in trailers and detains about 650 male immigrants in large tents; until a few weeks ago, the number of those being detained was nearly 1,500.

— Eric Schlosser, The Atlantic, 4 June 2026

Definition of detains

Verb

In an oppositional reading of a media text, the audience comprehends that the message conflicts with or contradicts their personal experiences of society.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 May 2026
In the end, A Guardian and a Thief is a story that comprehends hunger more deeply than the world that produces it.

— Tope Folarin, The Atlantic, 8 Nov. 2025

Definition of comprehends

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apprehending

apprehends

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“Apprehends.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apprehends. Accessed 7 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of apprehends

verb

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