apprehend

== English == === Etymology === From Late Middle English apprehenden (“to grasp, take hold of; to comprehend; to learn”), from Old French apprehender (modern French appréhender (“to apprehend; to catch; to dread”)), from Latin apprehendere, adprehendere, the present active infinitive of apprehendō, adprehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, take; to apprehend, arrest; to comprehend, understand; to embrace, include; to take possession of, obtain, secure”), from ap-, ad- (prefix meaning ‘to’) + prehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, snatch, take; to accost; to catch in the act, take by surprise; (figuratively, rare) of the mind: to apprehend, comprehend, grasp”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to hold, seize, take; to find”)). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ˌæpɹɪˈhɛnd/ (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˌæpɹɪˈhend/ (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˌɛpɹəˈhend/ Rhymes: -ɛnd Hyphenation: ap‧pre‧hend === Verb === apprehend (third-person singular simple present apprehends, present participle apprehending, simple past and past participle apprehended) (transitive) (transitive) To be or become aware of (something); to perceive. To acknowledge the existence of (something); to recognize. To take hold of (something) with understanding; to conceive (something) in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand. Synonyms: catch, get To have a conception of (something); to consider, to regard. Synonyms: believe, gather, reckon To anticipate (something, usually unpleasant); especially, to anticipate (something) with anxiety, dread, or fear; to dread, to fear. (archaic or obsolete, also figuratively) To seize or take (something); to take hold of. Synonym: catch (law enforcement) To seize or take (a person) by legal process; to arrest. Synonyms: capture, detain (obsolete) To feel (something) emotionally. To learn (something). (also figuratively) To take possession of (something); to seize. (intransitive) To be of opinion, believe, or think; to suppose. To understand. To be apprehensive; to fear. ==== Usage notes ==== The words apprehend and comprehend both describe acts of the mind. However, while apprehend denotes grasping something mentally so as to understand it clearly, at least in part, comprehend denotes understanding something entirely. We may, thus, apprehend many ideas without comprehending them. For example, the very idea of God supposes that he may be apprehended, though not comprehended, by rational beings. In The Study of Words (1851), Richard Chenevix Trench explained the difference thus: “[…] I read Hamlet, or King Lear: here I ‘apprehend’ much; I have wondrous glimpses of the poet’s intention and aim; but I do not for an instant suppose that I have ‘comprehended,’ taken in, that is, all that was in his mind in the writing”. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === apprehension (understanding) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia apprehension (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia