Definition of Apprehensive

1. Adjective. Quick to understand. "A kind and apprehensive friend"

Exact synonyms: Discerning
Similar to: Perceptive
Derivative terms: Apprehend

2. Adjective. Mentally upset over possible misfortune or danger etc. "Felt apprehensive about the consequences"
Exact synonyms: Worried
Similar to: Uneasy
Derivative terms: Apprehend, Apprehensiveness

3. Adjective. In fear or dread of possible evil or harm. "Apprehensive of danger"
Similar to: Afraid
Derivative terms: Apprehend, Apprehensiveness

Definition of Apprehensive

1. a. Capable of apprehending, or quick to do so; apt; discerning.

Definition of Apprehensive

1. Adjective. Anticipating something with anxiety or fear. ¹

2. Adjective. Perceptive; quick to learn; intelligent; capable of grasping with the mind or intellect. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Apprehensive

1. [adj]

Medical Definition of Apprehensive

1. 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. "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. "Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings, Mangle my apprehensive, tenderest parts." (Milton) Origin: Cf. F. Apprehensif. See Apprehend. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Apprehensive

appreciatorily
appreciators
appreciatory
apprecihate
apprehend
apprehended
apprehender
apprehenders
apprehending
apprehends
apprehensibility
apprehensible
apprehensibly
apprehension
apprehensions
apprehensive
apprehensively
apprehensiveness
apprentice
apprentice(a)
apprenticeage
apprenticed
apprenticehood
apprenticehoods
apprenticelike
apprentices
apprenticeship
apprenticeships
apprenticing
apprentisage

Literary usage of Apprehensive

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage by Inc. Merriam-Webster (1994)
"Trust your dictionary. apprehensive When the object of concern is a person, apprehensive takes for: Watching these contests, I could not help feeling ..."

2. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1887)
"... reigned in the Imperial court, were mutually apprehensive of alienating, and perhaps exasperating, the minds of a powerful, though declining faction. ..."

3. Publications by Oxford Historical Society (1907)
"Neither do I remember to have known it so near, insomuch that we were very apprehensive of mischief, but there was a very great Rain with it, ..."

4. The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill (1870)
"Their vain fears only substitute other and worse evils for those which they are idly apprehensive of: while every restraint on the freedom of conduct of any ..."

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