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Apprehend vs Recognise - What's the difference?

apprehend | recognise |

As verbs the difference between apprehend and recognise

is that apprehend is (archaic) to take or seize; to take hold of while recognise is to match something or someone which one currently perceives to a memory of some previous encounter with the same entity.

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

    recognise

    English

    Alternative forms

    * recognize (US )

    Verb

    (recognis)
  • To match something or someone which one currently perceives to a memory of some previous encounter with the same entity.
  • To acknowledge the existence or legality of something; treat as worthy of consideration or valid.
  • To acknowledge or consider as something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
    • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.}}
  • To realise or discover the nature of something; apprehend quality in; realise or admit that.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1913, author=
    • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad, chapter=4 citation , passage=“[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. […]”}}
  • To give an award.

    • Anagrams

    *