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.

Apprehension vs Understand - What's the difference?

apprehension | understand |

As a noun apprehension

is the physical act of seizing or taking hold of; seizure.

As a verb understand is

to be aware of the meaning of.

apprehension

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (rare) The physical act of seizing]] or [[take hold, 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.
  • (legal) The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest.
  • * 1855 , , North and South , ch. 37:
  • The warrant had been issued for his apprehension on the charge of rioting.
  • The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception.
  • * 1815 , , "On Life," in A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays (1840 edition):
  • We live on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life.
  • Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.
  • * 1901 , , 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.
  • The faculty by which ideas are conceived or by which perceptions are grasped; understanding.
  • * 1854 , , Hard Times , ch. 7:
  • Strangers of limited information and dull apprehension were sometimes observed not to know what a Powler was.
  • Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; dread or fear at the prospect of some future ill.
  • * 1846 , , 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.
    (Webster 1913)

    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.

    Synonyms

    * (anticipation of unfavorable things) alarm

    Antonyms

    * inapprehension

    References

    * * Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989.

    understand

    English

    Alternative forms

    * understaund (obsolete)

    Verb

  • (lb) To be aware of the meaning of.
  • :
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:I understand not what you mean by this.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}
  • To believe, based on information.
  • :
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.
  • To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.
  • :
  • :In this sense, the word is usually used in the past participle:
  • ::
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel.
  • *
  • *:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  • To stand under; to support.
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • Usage notes

    * Common objects of this verb include text'', ''word(s)'', ''sentence(s)'', ''note(s) , etc. * Rarely, the obsolete past tense form understanded'' may be found, e.g. in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and ''Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church .

    Synonyms

    * (to know the meaning) apprehend, comprehend, grasp, know, perceive, pick up what someone is putting down, realise, grok * (to believe) believe

    Antonyms

    * misunderstand

    Derived terms

    * I don’t understand * understandable * understanding * understood

    See also

    * explain * why