What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between apprehend and comprehend?

apprehend | comprehend |

Comprehend is a synonym of apprehend.



As verbs the difference between apprehend and comprehend

is that apprehend is to take or seize; to take hold of while comprehend is to include, comprise; to contain.

apprehend

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (archaic) To take or seize; to take hold of.
  • * (rfdate), .
  • We have two hands to apprehend it.
  • To take or seize (a person) by legal process; to arrest.
  • to apprehend a criminal .
  • To take hold of with the understanding, that is, to conceive in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand; to recognize; to consider.
  • * (rfdate), .
  • This suspicion of Earl Reimund, though at first but a buzz, soon got a sting in the king's head, and he violently apprehended it.
  • * (rfdate)
  • The eternal laws, such as the heroic age apprehended them.
  • *
  • To anticipate; especially, to anticipate with anxiety, dread, or fear; to fear.
  • * (rfdate) -- .
  • The opposition had more reason than the king to apprehend violence.
  • To think, believe, or be of opinion; to understand; to suppose.
  • To be apprehensive; to fear.
  • * (rfdate) .
  • It is worse to apprehend than to suffer.

    Usage notes

    To apprehend, comprehend. These words come into comparison as describing acts of the mind. Apprehend denotes the laying hold of a thing mentally, so as to understand it clearly, at least in part. Comprehend denotes the embracing or understanding it in all its compass and extent. We may apprehend many truths which we do not comprehend. The very idea of God supposes that he may be apprehended, though not comprehended, by rational beings. We may apprehend much of Shakespeare's aim and intention in the character of Hamlet or King Lear; but few will claim that they have comprehended all that is embraced in these characters. --Trench.
    (material dates from 1913)

    Derived terms

    * apprehension * misapprehend

    Synonyms

    * catch, seize, arrest, detain, capture, conceive, understand, imagine, believe, fear, dread

    comprehend

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , IV.1:
  • And lothly mouth, unmeete a mouth to bee, / That nought but gall and venim comprehended […].
  • * 1776 , (Edward Gibbon), The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , Penguin 2009, p. 9:
  • In the second century of the Christian Æra, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind.
  • To understand or grasp fully and thoroughly.