apprehend

Apprehend is a verb with several related senses. In law enforcement and criminal procedure, to apprehend means to seize or arrest a person suspected of a crime. A police officer may apprehend a suspect, typically under legal authority such as a warrant or probable cause. In a broader sense, apprehend can also mean to seize or capture someone or something under custody or authority. In general usage, it can also mean to grasp or understand something, though this sense is more formal and increasingly less common in everyday speech.

The word derives from Middle English appreheden, from Old French appréhender, ultimately from Latin apprehendere, meaning to seize or take hold of. The development of the term reflects both physical seizure and the figurative grasping of an idea.

Usage and notes: In contemporary writing, the legal sense—arresting or taking into custody—remains common in formal or procedural contexts. The cognitive sense—understanding or comprehending—exists but is often expressed with synonyms such as comprehend or understand in modern English. Apprehension is also used to denote fear or anticipation about the future, as in “a sense of apprehension,” or “to be apprehensive.”

Forms and related terms: The verb is transitive and conjugates as apprehend, apprehends, apprehended, apprehending. Related noun forms include apprehension (the act of apprehending or a feeling of fear) and the adjective apprehensive (fearful about what might happen).