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apprehension

UK/æp.ɹɪˈhɛn.ʃən/US/æp.ɹiˈhɛn.ʃən/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,231 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: apprehensions

Apprehension is worry about what is coming, or an arrest. A sense of apprehension, apprehension of the suspect, filled with apprehension.

The two senses share a Latin root meaning to seize: fear seizes you and police seize a suspect. The worry sense is far commoner, and it is specifically about the future — you cannot feel apprehension about something already over.

Definitions of apprehension

  1. 1nounapprehensionWorry about what is coming, or an arrest.C1

    “She opened the envelope with her exam results with some apprehension.”

apprehension is a worry, or an arrest.

Where it comes from

Latin apprehensio comes from apprehendere, to seize — ad plus prehendere, to grasp.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *gʰed-

  2. Latin

    apprehensio

  3. English, today

    apprehension

Latin apprehensio, compare with French appréhension. See apprehend.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

apprehension in the wild

  • Angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity.

    Angst

  • Communication apprehension is a degree or measure of the anxiety triggered by the real or anticipated communication act, as defined by James C.

    Communication apprehension

  • Since communication can be oral or written, communication apprehension (CA) is divided into oral communication apprehension (OCA) and written communication apprehension (WCA).

    Communication apprehension

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.