Apprehensive \Ap`pre*hen"sive\, a. [Cf. F. appr['e]hensif. See
Apprehend.]
1. Capable of apprehending, or quick to do so; apt;
discerning.
[1913 Webster]
It may be pardonable to imagine that a friend, a
kind and apprehensive . . . friend, is listening to
our talk. --Hawthorne.
[1913 Webster]
2. Knowing; conscious; cognizant. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
A man that has spent his younger years in vanity and
folly, and is, by the grace of God, apprehensive of
it. --Jer. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
3. Relating to the faculty of apprehension.
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Judgment . . . is implied in every apprehensive act.
--Sir W.
Hamilton.
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4. Anticipative of something unfavorable' fearful of what may
be coming; in dread of possible harm; in expectation of
evil.
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Not at all apprehensive of evils as a distance.
--Tillotson.
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Reformers . . . apprehensive for their lives.
--Gladstone.
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5. Sensible; feeling; perceptive. [R.]
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Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings,
Mangle my apprehensive, tenderest parts. --Milton.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
apprehensive
adj 1: quick to understand; "a kind and apprehensive friend"-
Nathaniel Hawthorne [syn: discerning]
2: mentally upset over possible misfortune or danger etc;
worried; "anxious parents"; "anxious about her job"; "not
used to a city and anxious about small things"; "felt
apprehensive about the consequences" [syn: anxious]
3: in fear or dread of possible evil or harm; "apprehensive for
one's life"; "apprehensive of danger"
WordNet (r) 2.0
74 Moby Thesaurus words for "apprehensive":
afraid, agitated, alive, all nerves, all-knowing, all-overish,
anxious, anxioused up, apperceptive, appercipient, apprehending,
awake, aware, bothered, cognizant, comprehending, concerned,
conscious, disquieted, disturbed, edgy, excitable, fearful,
foreboding, frightened, high-strung, in a pucker, in a stew,
in suspense, insightful, intelligent, irritable, keyed-up, knowing,
knowledgeable, mindful, misgiving, nerves on edge, nervous, nervy,
omniscient, on edge, on tenterhooks, on tiptoe, overanxious,
overapprehensive, overstrung, panicky, perceptive, percipient,
perspicacious, perturbed, prehensile, qualmish, qualmy, quivering,
sagacious, sensible, sentient, shrewd, solicitous, strained,
suspenseful, taut, tense, troubled, understanding, uneasy, ware,
wise, with bated breath, with muscles tense, witting, zealous
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
anxious, discerning
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