apprehend
pronunciation
How to pronounce apprehend in British English:
UK [ˌæprɪˈhend]
How to pronounce apprehend in American English:
US [ˌæprɪˈhɛnd]
-
- Verb:
- get the meaning of something
- take into custody
- anticipate with dread or anxiety
Word Origin
- apprehend
- apprehend: [14] The underlying notion in apprehend is of ‘seizing’ or ‘grasping’; it comes ultimately from the Latin verb prehendere ‘seize’ (source also of comprehend, predatory, and prehensile). Latin apprehendere ‘lay hold of’, formed with the prefix ad-, developed the metaphorical meaning ‘seize with the mind’ – that is, ‘learn’; and that was the earliest meaning apprehend had in English when it was borrowed either directly from Latin or via French appréhender: John de Trevisa, for instance, in his translation of De proprietatibus rerum 1398 writes ‘he holds in mind … without forgetting, all that he apprehends’.More familiar modern senses, such as ‘arrest’ and ‘understand’, followed in the 16th century. A contracted form of the Latin verb, apprendere, became Old French aprendre, modern French apprendre ‘learn’. This provided the basis for the derivative aprentis ‘someone learning’, from which English gets apprentice [14]; and its past participle appris, in the causative sense ‘taught’, was the source of English apprise [17].The chief modern meaning of the derived noun apprehension, ‘fear’, arose via the notion of ‘grasping something with the mind’, then ‘forming an idea of what will happen in the future’, and finally ‘anticipation of something unpleasant’.=> apprentice, comprehend, impregnable, predatory, prehensile
- apprehend (v.)
- mid-14c., "to grasp in the senses or mind," from Old French aprendre (12c.) "teach; learn; take, grasp; acquire," or directly from Latin apprehendere "to take hold of, grasp," from ad- "to" + prehendere "to seize" (see prehensile). Metaphoric extension to "seize with the mind" took place in Latin, and was the sole sense of cognate Old French aprendre (Modern French apprendre "to learn, to be informed about;" also compare apprentice). Original sense returned in English in meaning "to seize in the name of the law, arrest," recorded from 1540s, which use probably was taken directly from Latin. Related: Apprehended; apprehending.
Example
- 1. The officers rush to apprehend the truck , believing that langdon is on the roof .
- 2. Stay in the desert long enough , and you could apprehend the absolute .
- 3. By extension , he disagreed with our decision to try to apprehend aidid for the un .
- 4. The border patrol will never manage to apprehend every last suspect , says mr hayes , but it is not that far off .
- 5. Because aidid was well protected by heavily armed forces , the united nations was unable to apprehend him and asked the united states to help .