Apprehensive

WORD OF THE DAY

 

APPREHENSION \ noun \ ap-rih-HEN-shun \

 

Definition

1a : the act or power of perceiving or comprehending

1b : the result of apprehending mentally : conception

 

2a: seizure by legal process

2b: arrest

 

3a: suspicion or fear especially of future evil

3b: foreboding

 

Examples

"Oddly combined with her sharp apprehension … was the primitive simplicity of her attitude…."
— Edith Wharton, The Reef, 1912

"Rife with memories of lessons learned and laughter shared and full of hopeful apprehension facing uncertain futures in a big, brave new world, 241 seniors graduated from Princeton Senior High School Friday evening."

— Tammie Toler, Princeton (West Virginia) Times, June 5, 2015

 

Did You Know?

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.