apprehension
noun
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Latin Helps Build Apprehension
There’s quite a bit to comprehend about apprehension, so let’s take a closer look at its history. The Latin ancestor of apprehension (and of comprehend, prehensile, and even prison, among others) is the verb prehendere, meaning “to grasp” or “to seize.” When it was first used in the 14th century, apprehension could refer to the act of learning, a sense that is now obsolete, or the ability or power to understand things—learning and understanding both being ways to “grasp” knowledge or information. It wasn’t until the late 16th century that apprehension was used, as it still is today, for the physical seizure of something or someone (as an arrest). The most commonly used sense of apprehension today refers to a feeling that something bad is about to happen, when you seize up, perhaps, with anxiety or dread, having grasped all the unpleasant possibilities.
Examples of apprehension in a Sentence
Ngaire Woods, Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
Trump has steered the White House toward a rapprochement with the Kremlin, monitored with apprehension by most of the U.S.' allies and many domestic lawmakers.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Apr. 2025
The state’s Supreme Judicial Court decided the issue well before Healey took the governor’s office, ruling in the 2017 Lunn decision that a civil detention request from the federal government’s immigration officers isn’t sufficient cause to keep a person under apprehension.
—Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald, 10 Apr. 2025
According to border czar Tom Homan, the stark change happened during the first two days of the second Trump administration when only 766 apprehensions were reported on the southwest border.
—Jenny Goldsberry, The Washington Examiner, 30 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for apprehension
Cite this Entry
“Apprehension.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apprehension. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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