Apprehension \Ap`pre*hen"sion\, n. [L. apprehensio: cf. F. appr['e]hension. See Apprehend.]

1. The act of seizing or taking hold of; seizure; as, the hand is an organ of apprehension. --Sir T. Browne.

2. The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest; as, the felon, after his apprehension, escaped.

3. The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception.

Simple apprehension denotes no more than the soul's naked intellection of an object. --Glanvill.

4. Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.

Note: In this sense, the word often denotes a belief, founded on sufficient evidence to give preponderation to the mind, but insufficient to induce certainty; as, in our apprehension, the facts prove the issue.

To false, and to be thought false, is all one in respect of men, who act not according to truth, but apprehension. --South.

5. The faculty by which ideas are conceived; understanding; as, a man of dull apprehension.

6. Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; distrust or fear at the prospect of future evil.

After the death of his nephew Caligula, Claudius was in no small apprehension for his own life. --Addison.

Syn: Apprehension, Alarm.

Usage: Apprehension springs from a sense of danger when somewhat remote, but approaching; alarm arises from danger when announced as near at hand. Apprehension is calmer and more permanent; alarm is more agitating and transient.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)