WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Ap`pre*hen"sion
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [L. apprehensio: cf. F. appr?hension. See Apprehend.]
Definition : 1. The act of seizing or taking hold of; seizure; as, the hand is an organ of apprehension. Sir T. Browne.

2. The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest; as, the felon, after his apprehension, escaped.

3. The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception. Simple apprehension denotes no more than the soul's naked intellection of an object. Glanvill.

4. Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.

Note: In this sense, the word often denotes a belief, founded on sufficient evidence to give preponderation to the mind, but insufficient to induce certainty; as, in our apprehension, the facts prove the issue. To false, and to be thought false, is all one in respect of men, who act not according to truth, but apprehension. South.

5. The faculty by which ideas are conceived; understanding; as, a man of dull apprehension.

6. Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; distrust or fear at the prospect of future evil. After the death of his nephew Caligula, Claudius was in no small apprehension for his own life. Addison.

Syn. -- Apprehension, Alarm. Apprehension springs from a sense of danger when somewhat remote, but approaching; alarm arises from danger when announced as near at hand. Apprehension is calmer and more permanent; alarm is more agitating and transient.


Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913