Definition

1. Verb:
   • To arrest or take into custody: To seize or detain someone by legal authority, typically for a suspected crime.
   • To understand or perceive the meaning of something: To grasp something mentally; to comprehend.
   • To anticipate with anxiety or fear: To view something future with dread or unease.

Usage and Examples

• To arrest or take into custody:
  • The officer will apprehend the suspect at the scene.
  • The fugitive was apprehended after a week-long search.
• To understand or perceive:
  • It is difficult to apprehend the full complexity of the issue.
  • She quickly apprehended the instructions and began her work.
• To anticipate with anxiety:
  • I apprehend that the results may not be favorable.
  • They apprehend a difficult winter ahead.

Advanced Usage

• "To apprehend danger": To sense or become aware of a threat.
  • The animals seemed to apprehend danger before the storm hit.
• Used in formal or legal contexts: The meaning of "to arrest" is most common in police, legal, and official reports.
  • The suspect was apprehended without incident.

Variants and Related Words

• Apprehension (noun):
  • Anxiety or fear: A feeling of dread about a future event. (e.g., She felt great apprehension before the exam.)
  • Understanding: The act of grasping something mentally. (e.g., His apprehension of the theory was impressive.)
  • Arrest: The act of seizing someone by legal authority. (e.g., The apprehension of the criminal was swift.)
• Apprehensive (adjective): Anxious or fearful that something bad will happen.
  • He was apprehensive about the upcoming surgery.

Synonyms

• Arrest, capture, seize (for the meaning of taking into custody).
• Understand, comprehend, grasp, perceive (for the meaning of mental understanding).
• Fear, dread, anticipate anxiously (for the meaning of anxious anticipation).

Phrasal Verbs / Common Collocations

• To apprehend a criminal: A standard collocation meaning to arrest a lawbreaker.
• To apprehend a concept: A formal collocation meaning to understand an idea.

Related Idioms

• "To be apprehended by the law": A formal way of saying to be arrested by the authorities.
  • He was finally apprehended by the law after years on the run.

Verb

1. anticipate with dread or anxiety
2. take into custody
   • the police nabbed the suspected criminals
3. get the meaning of something
   • Do you comprehend the meaning of this letter?