The power of being able to understand something, the ability to catch something by the scruff of the neck and imbue it one’s system is something that we all crave and wish for. This ability to understand and catch the concepts is labeled as being able to apprehend something. The same ability to catch something can be extended to physical contours and this is where to apprehend assumes the meaning of arresting someone.
There is another meaning which gets attached to rather peculiar word. This one deals with the psychological aspects of our thinking process and derives itself from the noun, apprehension (which means fearful expectation or anticipation). This meaning developed from the second meaning in fact. We know apprehend means ‘the grasping something with the mind’ which ultimately allows us ‘to form an idea of what will happen in the future’. This feeling will not be a pleasant one at times and can lead to the creation of ‘an anticipation of something unpleasant’. This anxiety, when expressed in verb form, translates to the use of the word apprehend.
The dictionary definitions for apprehend are as follows:
1. to take into custody; arrest by legal warrant or authority. (Verb)
2. to grasp the meaning of; understand, especially intuitively; perceive. (Verb)
3. to expect with anxiety, suspicion, or fear; anticipate. (Verb)
Masters Tip to remember Apprehend:
Well, remember the time in your childhood when you were always afraid of being caught was your innocent excursions: that was your apprehension of being apprehended.
The word-poster above is also based on the same theme of catching or grasping something. It illustrates the physical meaning of the word apprehend.
In terms of usage, the word apprehend can be used in the following ways:
1. Working on the inside, it’s Michael’s job to apprehend or kill Nikita since she’s trying to take down Division, but residual feelings remain, which makes for conflicted loyalties.- Are Nikitas Alex and Nathan Doomed? Shane West Says Love and Black Ops Dont Mix
2. To apprehend the true aspect, force, and morality of war as a natural function of mankind one requires a feather in the hair and a ring in the nose, or, better still, teeth filed to a point and a tattooed breast.- The Mirror of the Sea by Conrad, Joseph
3. Barbarians, who no longer had any resistance to apprehend from the scattered and vanquished troops of the East, spread themselves over the face of a fertile and cultivated country, as far as the confines of Italy and the Hadriatic Sea.- The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire