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Glite Dictionary
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to apprehend

to apprehend

2 7.0
To feel worried about something that may happen
  • verb
  • /ˌæprɪˈhɛnd/
  • Formal
translation icon : temer
  • As the deadline approached, I began to apprehend the impact of my poor decisions on my final project.

Examples

  • The passage of the sea has been made with far less loss... than we apprehended.

    Churchill (2017)

  • They know that the calamities they apprehend are remote, and flatter themselves that they will only fall upon future generations.

    Academic text (1997)

  • More importantly, some graduate students still fear, or even apprehend, research methods courses at the completion of a formal research course.

    Academic text (2008)

  • It suggests something through which I think, something that is there, except that I do not apprehend it.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Everyone confusedly apprehends a good in which their mind may be at rest, and desires it so that each strives to reach it.

  • A second one, related to the first, is that the danger apprehended, assuming it can be reasonably apprehended by objective standards, must be of some seriousness.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The teacher tried to help her students apprehend the significance of the lesson on climate change.

  • She couldn't help but apprehend what might happen if she failed the exam.

Synonyms

to fear
vsto apprehend
  • Formal
289 7.4

To think or say that something bad is likely, often politely

is used for expecting something with anxious emotion rather than stating belief
to anticipate
vsto apprehend
124 3.6

To feel excited or nervous about something that will happen

is used for expectation that is mainly anxious rather than excited
to look for
vsto apprehend
49 1.0

To feel excited or worried about something that will happen

is focused on anxious expectation rather than excited feeling
to quail at
vsto apprehend
1 9.9

Feel afraid or nervous about something you may have to face

is about expecting something with anxiety but less intense dread

Antonyms

to reassure
163 3.4

To make someone feel less worried and more confident

How Fearful

dread
58 2.8
to fear
∞ 1.0
to apprehend
  • Formal
2 7.0
to anticipate
124 3.6

Surface Forms

apprehend infinitive
apprehended past
apprehended past participle
apprehending present participle
apprehends third person singular

Morphology

apprehend = ap + prehend

This sense ('to anticipate with fear') is idiomatic/archaic and not transparently derived from the visible morphemes, which are not familiar productive English elements.

Etymology

The word apprehend comes from the Latin apprehendere, from ad- 'to' + prehendere 'to seize'. A helpful way to remember the 'fear' sense is to think of your mind 'taking hold' of a bad event before it happens, so you 'apprehend' it with worry.