1. To take into custody; arrest: apprehended the murderer.2. To grasp mentally; understand: a candidate who apprehends the significance of geopolitical issues.3. To become conscious of, as through the emotions or senses; perceive.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
To understand something.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English apprehenden, from Old French apprehender, from Latin apprehendere, to seize : ad-, ad- + prehendere, to grasp; see ghend- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:
appre·hender —NOUN
SYNONYMS:
apprehend, comprehend, understand, grasp These verbs denote perception of the nature and significance of something. Apprehend denotes both mental and intuitive awareness: “Intelligence is quickness to apprehend” (Alfred North Whitehead). Both comprehend and understand stress complete realization and knowledge: “To comprehend is to know a thing as well as that thing can be known” (John Donne). “No one who has not had the responsibility can really understand what it is like to be President” (Harry S. Truman). To grasp is to seize an idea firmly: “We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount” (Omar N. Bradley).
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