apprehensiveness
- noun
- /ˌæprɪˈhɛnsɪvnəs/
:
aprehensión
- She felt a sense of apprehensiveness as she approached the abandoned building, unsure of what she might find inside.
Maybe I was masking my more my apprehensiveness, but I felt positive.
- Maybe I was masking my more my apprehensiveness, but I felt positive.
Examples
-
For example, changes in union representation and general apprehensiveness toward management presented obstacles.
Academic text (1997) -
But what they put in place of the suspense plot also comes from sensation fiction: an energy system based on the copresence of instantaneity and prolonged apprehensiveness.
Academic text (2018) -
One student reported that his or her apprehensiveness toward statistics dropped substantially by the third week of class.
Academic text (1995) -
Maybe I was masking my more my apprehensiveness, but I felt positive.
-
Apprehensiveness makes the title character of "Eveline" dumb.
Academic text (1991) -
A climate of apprehensiveness and resentment pervaded the state and reached the seat of government.
Academic text (2011) -
The elaborate to-do over the damaged black square painting at the Guggenheim Museum is a telling indication of the apprehensiveness over critical material-institutional recognition prevailing over affirmative.
Academic text (2014) -
I don't mean that we are unconscious of our own death, but that we pass through what we think of as consciousness—that "apprehensiveness" I mentioned, that standing-apart-from and taking-hold-of—into something more profound.
Academic text (2010) -
His apprehensiveness about the upcoming exam made it hard for him to concentrate on studying.
-
The team's apprehensiveness before the big game was palpable, as they worried about their chances of winning.
Synonyms
423
3.5
A worried, nervous feeling that makes you unable to relax
58
2.8
A strong feeling of fear or worry about something that may happen
36
2.7
A feeling of being worried or anxious
32
4.4
A feeling of fear or worry that something bad may happen
23
8.1
A feeling of fear or worry about something that may happen
19
4.4
A feeling of worry and not being relaxed
9
8.0
A strong feeling that something bad is going to happen
3
3.8
A feeling of worry and nervousness before an event or about the future
1
4.5
Being easily frightened and nervous in new or dangerous situations
A strong fear of trying new things or meeting new people
Antonyms
How Anxious
Surface Forms
Morphology
apprehensiveness = apprehensive (transparent) = apprehensive + ness
Standard noun formation from the adjective 'apprehensive' using '-ness' yields 'apprehensiveness'; learners who know 'apprehensive' should be able to infer the noun.
Etymology
The word apprehensiveness comes from apprehend, which is made of ad- and prehend, meaning 'to grasp' or 'to seize', and the same root is in comprehend, which means 'to understand'. So apprehensiveness is like 'grasping' a worrying idea about the future, and that is why it means a worried or fearful feeling about what might happen.