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Apprehensive vs Apprehension - What's the difference?

apprehensive | apprehension |

As an adjective apprehensive

is .

As a noun apprehension is

apprehension.

apprehensive

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Anticipating something with anxiety or fear.
  • * 1719 ,
    • this convinced me that there was no going on shore for us in the night on that coast, and how to venture on shore in the day was another question too; for to have fallen into the hands of any of the savages had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of the lions and tigers; at least we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it.
  • Perceptive; quick to learn; intelligent; capable of grasping with the mind or intellect.
  • * 1670 ,
    • More fond of Miracles, than apprehensive of Truth.

    Derived terms

    * apprehensively

    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.