Apprehending

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The action of understanding or grasping information, along with the ability to perceive and analyze various ideas, is fundamental to the retrieval of knowledge and insight
2. The act of mentally grasping or perceiving the meaning of something ; the process of taking into custody or arresting a person ; the faculty of becoming aware and understanding concepts
3. The process of becoming aware of something through mental recognition or the seizure of an individual by law enforcement; an act involving comprehension or capture

Etymology: Apprehending is a form of "apprehend," and the verb carries two senses that look like opposites. In its older sense it meant to grasp something physically, and its Latin source, "apprehendere," could mean to seize a person or to take hold of an object. Alongside that, the same Latin verb meant to understand, so the mental sense of grasping an idea came from the same physical image of taking hold. The verb reached English in Late Middle English from Old French "apprehender," which had itself been formed from the Latin. The root "prehendere" meant to grab or seize, and the prefix "ap-" (a form of "ad-," meaning "to") gave the sense of reaching toward something. That is why one verb can mean catching a thief and catching a meaning. The French descendant, "appréhender," kept the arrest sense and gained a further one: to dread. English largely kept to the mental and legal senses, so the fear meaning is one that English speakers may find surprising when they meet it in French.

Synonyms: understanding, grasping, comprehending, perceiving, recognizing

Antonyms: misunderstanding, overlooking, ignoring, disregarding, rejecting