WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Ap`pre*hen"sive
Part of Speech : a.
Etymology : [Cf. F. appr?hensif. See Apprehend.]
Definition : 1. Capable of apprehending, or quick to do so; apt; discerning. It may be pardonable to imagine that a friend, a kind and apprehensive . . . friend, is listening to our talk. Hawthorne.

2. Knowing; conscious; cognizant. [R.] A man that has spent his younger years in vanity and folly, and is, by the grace of God, apprehensive of it. Jer. Taylor.

3. Relating to the faculty of apprehension. Judgment . . . is implied in every apprehensive act. Sir W. Hamilton.

4. Anticipative of something unfavorable' fearful of what may be coming; in dread of possible harm; in expectation of evil. Not at all apprehensive of evils as a distance. Tillotson. Reformers . . . apprehensive for their lives. Gladstone.

5. Sensible; feeling; perceptive. [R.] Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings, Mangle my apprehensive, tenderest parts. Milton.


Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913