apprehend Hear it!

apprehend Definition

ap·pre·hend (ap′rē hend′, -ri-)

transitive verb

  1. to take into custody; capture or arrest
  2. to take hold of mentally; perceive; understand
  3. to anticipate with anxiety; dread
  4. Obsolete to seize

Etymology: ME apprehenden < LL apprehendere, to understand < L, to take hold of < ad-, to + prehendere: see prehensile

intransitive verb

to understand

apprehend Synonyms

apprehend

v.

  1. To understand

    perceive, comprehend, grasp; see understand 1.

  2. To arrest

    seize, place under arrest, take into custody; see arrest 1.

apprehend Usage Examples

Object

  • shoplifter: I have yet to see a mounted police officer apprehending a shoplifter galloping along Midsummer Boulevard.
  • culprit: Among the culprits apprehended by enforcement officers during the blitz were a number of carp fisherman in the Environment Agency's Thames region.
  • offender: Where early attendance will assist in securing evidence to apprehend an offender.
  • thief: Surveillance teams operate to detect and apprehend thieves who may be taking advantage of open stands from which valuable items can easily be stolen.
  • suspect: Officers searched the area and recovered fired pellets but were unable to apprehend any suspects.

Preposition: on

  • suspicion: Three lads have been apprehended on suspicion May 31 st 1859 Free Grants of Land of 40 to 5000 acres or upwards.

Subject

  • police: They are among a group of 12 boys apprehended by police.
  • officer: Among the culprits apprehended by enforcement officers during the blitz were a number of carp fisherman in the Environment Agency's Thames region.

Modifying Another Word

  • dimly: The background he apprehended dimly; it was very much the sort of background his life had always had.
  • reasonably: Here it is found that the respondent [ ie the police officer ] reasonably apprehended a breach of the peace.
  • rightly: The essential holiness of God, - do we rightly apprehend what it is?
  • directly: Hume also claims that we never directly apprehend the self.
  • immediately: I was much rapt in this; And apprehended here immediately Th ' unknown AJAX.
  • clearly: MR IRVING: My Lord, I had clearly apprehend exactly what your Lordship intends with that word.

Used with why or when

  • what: The essential holiness of God, - do we rightly apprehend what it is?

Preposition: by

  • faith: Rather, it is something that we apprehend by faith from outside of ourselves.
  • police: They are among a group of 12 boys apprehended by police.
  • officer: Among the culprits apprehended by enforcement officers during the blitz were a number of carp fisherman in the Environment Agency's Thames region.