apprehensive
- adjective
- /ˌæprɪˈhɛnsɪv/
- She was still apprehensive but she started to come around a little bit.
- feel apprehensive
- apprehensive about the future
- reason to be apprehensive
Up until that point, a lot of military people were pretty apprehensive about this new equipment.
- Up until that point, a lot of military people were pretty apprehensive about this new equipment.
- You're going to be tight and tense and apprehensive and, you know, sort of hesitant to do what you want to do.
- And what we see is the teachers are very often apprehensive and then very quickly realize that this is the best teaching they've ever done in their life.
- So they were somewhat apprehensive about that.
- But the fact that he was so content made me very apprehensive.
- I think during the early stages of the four years they were quite apprehensive.
- Imagine being so being so like, what's the word being so apprehensive and so distrustful that you think we would fake having a child together?
- I was like, oh, excited, apprehensive, unsure, didn't know what it what it was going to be like.
- And what we see is the teachers are very often apprehensive and then very quickly realized that this is the best teaching they've ever done in their life.
Examples
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When the first day of school came, Romy was apprehensive, scared to be found out.
Fiction book (1997) -
She was apprehensive when her boss called her into the office for an unexpected meeting.
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Up until that point, a lot of military people were pretty apprehensive about this new equipment.
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About half of them had already left, and others were looking as apprehensive as I felt.
Academic text (2003) -
Although some were initially apprehensive, the students took on the challenge of this program.
Academic text (1992) -
So they were somewhat apprehensive about that.
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I know I was apprehensive.
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Then why are you so apprehensive?
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The pre-departure phase of students returning home often finds the students apprehensive about leaving the new community.
Academic text (1992) -
Colombia's deterioration has made its neighbors apprehensive and spread serious concern as far as the United States.
Academic text (1999)
Synonyms
Feeling fear or worry about something
Feeling afraid because you think something bad might happen
Feeling nervous or upset about something that may go wrong
Feeling worried or nervous about something that might happen
Feeling afraid or nervous and easily frightened
Careful because you do not trust someone or something
You feel worried and not relaxed
Slow to act or speak because you feel unsure
Being afraid because something seems dangerous
Antonyms
How Anxious
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Apprehensive comes from Latin parts ad- 'to' and prehend 'to grasp', the same root as in comprehend 'to understand' and the English word 'grasp'. If you 'grasp' a possible danger in your mind you feel uneasy about it, so apprehensive means anxious or fearful about what might happen.