Apprehensiveness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A condition involving a heightened awareness of potential threats or misfortunes
2. A state of being worried or fearful about possible future events
3. The uneasy feeling experienced when expecting negative or uncertain outcomes

Etymology: "Apprehensiveness" is a plain formation: the adjective "apprehensive" with the suffix "-ness" attached, turning a quality into a noun. The adjective itself came into English from the Latin "apprehendere," meaning "to seize" or "to grasp," which also gave English "apprehend" in the sense of catching a criminal. The mental sense of "apprehend," to grasp with the mind, is what makes "apprehensive" describe a state of anticipating trouble: to be apprehensive is to have a fearful idea of what might come. The suffix does its work in the old way. "-ness" descends from an Old English ending, "-nes," which was used to form abstract nouns from adjectives, so that "good" gave "goodness" and "dark" gave "darkness." Middle English kept the form as "-nesse," and it has been productive ever since, letting English turn almost any adjective into a noun naming its quality. "Apprehensiveness" therefore names the quality of being apprehensive, the condition of dreading misfortune.

Synonyms: anxiety, unease, nervousness

Antonyms: calmness, composure, assurance