apprehension
Americannoun
-
apprehensions
plural
-
anticipation of adversity or misfortune; suspicion or fear of future trouble or evil.
- Synonyms:
- suspicion, uneasiness, worry, alarm
- Antonyms:
- tranquility, composure
-
the faculty or act of apprehending or understanding; perception on a direct and immediate level.
-
acceptance of or receptivity to information without passing judgment on its validity, often without complete comprehension.
-
a view, opinion, or idea on any subject.
-
the act of arresting; seizure.
Police apprehension of the burglar was aided by two alert teenagers.
- Synonyms:
- capture
- Antonyms:
- release
noun
-
fear or anxiety over what may happen
-
the act of capturing or arresting
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the faculty of comprehending; understanding
-
a notion or conception
Synonym Usage
Apprehension, anxiety, misgiving imply an unsettled and uneasy state of mind. Apprehension is an active state of fear, usually of some danger or misfortune: apprehension before opening a telegram. Anxiety is a somewhat prolonged state of apprehensive worry: anxiety because of a reduced income. Misgiving implies a dubious uncertainty or suspicion, as well as uneasiness: to have misgivings about the investment.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of apprehension
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin apprehēnsiōn-, stem of apprehēnsiō, from apprehēns(us) “grasped” (past participle of apprehendere “to grasp”; see apprehend) + -iō -ion
Explanation
Apprehension is fear or anxiety about something, like the apprehension you feel about an upcoming test. Apprehension is also the capture of a criminal — that is, when the criminal is apprehended. Finally, apprehension can mean one's understanding of an idea. Get it? Given the crook's record of evading arrest, the chief had real apprehensions about being able to catch him. Eventually though, she activated the whole police force in an effort to ensure the crook's apprehension. And it paid off! They caught him red-handed. But it wasn't until he saw the video of the crime in progress that the guy apprehended just how much trouble he was in. It was that apprehension that led him to make a deal with the district attorney.
Vocabulary lists containing apprehension
Lord of the Flies
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"Of Mice and Men"
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 20–25
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“There’s certainly an apprehension to asking for some sort of unreasonable payment ahead of surgery,” said Matt Szaflarski, a vice president at Kodiak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Ghizlan Saad, a Bahraini mother of two, said the sirens woke her family in the middle of the night, "bringing back memories of the attacks, of the fear and apprehension".
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
"There's still that fun element but now, and for the last few years, you are going into Eurovision week with a sense of apprehension and nervous anticipation."
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
“Private credit and the surge in redemptions reflect investor apprehension about the future of software,” he says.
From MarketWatch ● May 1, 2026
The younger girls formed hopes of coming out a year or two sooner than they might otherwise have done; and the boys were relieved from their apprehension of Charlotte’s dying an old maid.
From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
And while those apprehensions are examined in the film, they’re never once investigated from Nikki’s point of view.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
"A lot of the previous limit on contact seems to be due to Pyongyang's apprehensions about broader contact, which have diminished," Chong told AFP.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
Border Patrol has still been recording several thousand illegal crossings each month under Trump, with the latest figures showing 6,070 apprehensions at the southwest border in January 2026.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
He also has longstanding apprehensions about using the military for possible regime change.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Steadying her apprehensions with a deep breath, Kira knocked on the heavy door to the room where the Council of Guardians’ meeting was already in progress.
From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
