The Latin verb prehendere really grabs our attention. It means "to grasp" or "to seize," and it is an ancestor of various English words. It teamed up with the prefix ad- (which takes the form ap- before p and means "to," "toward," or "near") to form apprehendere, the Latin predecessor of our words apprehension, apprehend, and apprehensive. When prehendere joined the prefix com- ("with," "together," "jointly"), Latin got comprehendere, and English eventually got comprehend, comprehension, and comprehensive. Prehendere also gave us the words comprise, prehensile ("adapted for seizing or grasping"), prison, reprehend, and reprise, among others.
Quotes--> Extra Examples--> The thought of moving to a new city fills me with apprehension. an increased number of apprehensions
Recent Examples on the Web There is also a certain kind of apprehension among the religious minorities, and the Awami League is still a major political force even though they are much detested and much hated. — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2024 The apprehensions there are higher than all those recorded in the area in the past 13 fiscal years combined, according to Robert Garcia, the top Border Patrol official in the Swanton sector. — Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, 13 Aug. 2024 In mid-November 2022, the Cincinnati police fugitive apprehension unit saw Chandler driving Downtown and tried to stop him. — Kevin Grasha, The Enquirer, 10 Aug. 2024 Stanley was charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, hindering the apprehension or punishment of a criminal, reckless conduct and violating her oath of office. — Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 18 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for apprehension
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'apprehension.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.