MEANING
1. To arrest or seize a person believed responsible for an offense.
2. To understand or mentally grasp something.
3. To expect or fear that something unwelcome may happen.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- apprehend a suspect
- apprehend a fugitive
On the page
The officers apprehended the suspect near the abandoned ticket hall.
She asked what evidence supported the arrest after he had been apprehended.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- apprehend
- Past tense
- apprehended
- Past participle
- apprehended
- Present participle
- apprehending
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- apprehend
- Present continuous
- am/is/are apprehending
- Present perfect
- have/has apprehended
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been apprehending
- Past
- apprehended
- Past continuous
- was/were apprehending
- Past perfect
- had apprehended
- Past perfect continuous
- had been apprehending
- Future
- will apprehend
- Future continuous
- will be apprehending
- Future perfect
- will have apprehended
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been apprehending
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: apprehend; apprehends; apprehended; apprehended; apprehending Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: apprehends.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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