Etymology

Noun

1. The physical act of seizing or taking hold of; seizure.
   • 2006, Phil Senter, "Comparison of Forelimb Function between Deinonychus and Babiraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridea)", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 26, no. 4 (Dec.), p. 905,

     The wing would have been a severe obstruction to apprehension of an object on the ground.

2. The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest.
   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, ch. 37,

     The warrant had been issued for his apprehension on the charge of rioting.

3. The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception.
   • 1815, Percy Bysshe Shelley, "On Life," in A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays (1840 edition),

     We live on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life.

4. Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.
   • 1901, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Penelope's English Experiences, ch. 8,

     We think we get a kind of vague apprehension of what London means from the top of a 'bus better than anywhere else.

5. The faculty by which ideas are conceived; understanding.
   • 1854, Charles Dickens, Hard Times, ch. 7,

     Strangers of limited information and dull apprehension were sometimes observed not to know what a Powler was.

6. Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; dread or fear at the prospect of some future ill.
   • 1846, Herman Melville, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, ch. 32,

     Every circumstance which evinced the savage nature of the beings at whose mercy I was, augmented the fearful apprehensions that consumed me.

Usage notes

• Apprehension springs from a sense of danger when somewhat remote, but approaching; alarm arises from danger when announced as near at hand. Apprehension is less agitated and more persistent; alarm is more agitated and transient.