Word: Apprehension

The Word of the Day for Feb 26 is:
apprehension \ap-rih-HEN-shun\ noun

1 *a : the act or power of perceiving or comprehending b : the result of apprehending mentally : conception
2 : seizure by legal process : arrest
3 : suspicion or fear especially of future evil : foreboding


Example sentence:
"Oddly combined with her sharp apprehension ... was the primitive simplicity of her attitude...." (Edith Wharton, The Reef)

Did you know?

The Latin verb "prehendere" really grabs our attention. It means "to grasp" or "to seize," and it is an ancestor of various English words. It teamed up with the prefix "ap-" ("to," "toward," or "near") to form "apprehendere," the Latin predecessor of our words "apprehension," "apprehend" and "apprehensive." When "prehendere" joined the prefix "com-" ("with," "together," "jointly"), Latin got "comprehendere," and English eventually got "comprehend," "comprehension," and "comprehensive." "Prehendere" also gave us the words "comprise," "prehensile" ("adapted for seizing or grasping"), "prison," "reprehend," and "reprise," among others.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

My sentence:
The novice singer approached her first solo performance with great apprehension.

Comments

[Rose]

I'm apprehensive of the Christian-Right's zealousness; they'll never stop... If I'm to write my theory, I better do it now, before it's too late.