Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Apprehensive
1.
Capable of apprehending, or quick to do so; apt; discerning.
It may be pardonable to imagine that a friend, a kind and
apprehensive
. . . friend, is listening to our talk. Hawthorne.
2.
Knowing; conscious; cognizant.
[R.]
A man that has spent his younger years in vanity and folly, and is, by the grace of God,
apprehensive
of it. Jer. Taylor.
3.
Relating to the faculty of apprehension.
Judgment . . . is implied in every
apprehensive
act. Sir W. Hamilton.
4.
Anticipative of something unfavorable’ fearful of what may be coming; in dread of possible harm; in expectation of evil.
Not at all
apprehensive
of evils as a distance. Tillotson.
Reformers . . .
apprehensive
for their lives. Gladstone.
5.
Sensible; feeling; perceptive.
[R.]
Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings,
Mangle my
Mangle my
apprehensive
, tenderest parts. Milton.
Webster 1828 Edition
Apprehensive
APPREHEN'SIVE
,Adj.
1.
Quick to understand; as, an apprehensive scholar.2.
Fearful; in expectation of evil; as, we were apprehensive of fatal consequences. [This is the usual sense of the word.]
3.
Suspicious; inclined to believe; as, I am apprehensive he does not understand me.4.
Sensible; feeling; perceptive. [Rarely used.]Definition 2024
apprehensive
apprehensive
See also: appréhensive
English
Adjective
apprehensive (comparative more apprehensive, superlative most apprehensive)
- Anticipating something with anxiety or fear.
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- this convinced me that there was no going on shore for us in the night on that coast, and how to venture on shore in the day was another question too; for to have fallen into the hands of any of the savages had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of the lions and tigers; at least we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it.
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- Perceptive; quick to learn; intelligent; capable of grasping with the mind or intellect.
- 1670, John Milton, History of Britain
- More fond of Miracles, than apprehensive of Truth.
- 1670, John Milton, History of Britain
Derived terms
Translations
anticipating something with anxiety or fear
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Perceptive; quick to learn; intelligent; capable of grasping with the mind or intellect
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