prehend-, prehens-

(Latin: to grasp or to understand, to seize; to reach, to hold, to take)

apprehend (verb), apprehends; apprehended; apprehending
1. To take into custody; to arrest: The police officer apprehended the robber just as he was leaving the scene of the crime.
2. To grasp mentally; to understand: Alice was a candidate who apprehends the significance of political issues.
3. To become conscious of, as through the emotions or senses; to perceive or to understand something: It was easy for TV viewers to apprehend the sorrow and sadness that was expressed by the parents of so many children who died when the boat they were in turned over and sank in the water.
apprehender (s) (noun), apprehenders (pl)
1. Someone who seizes or arrests another person in the name of justice: In a short time, the policeman was praised for being the apprehender of the robber of the bank.
2. A person who knows or understands: Mark was the most qualified apprehender of the chemical process for the new medicine because no one else could come up with a product as good as his.
apprehending (s) (noun), apprehending (pl)
An act by which something is understood or perceived: The teacher, Mrs. Gregson, was hoping for the apprehendings of her students while she was presenting and explaining the topic of chemistry for her class.
apprehensible (adjective), more apprehensible, most apprehensible
Descriptive of something or someone capable of being comprehended or conceived: Elaine's physics teacher was an apprehensible instructor when it came to presenting lessons the contents of which the class would be able to understand.
apprehensibly (adverb), more apprehensibly, most apprehensibly
Descriptive of how a person might conceive or grasp the meaning of an issue: After listening carefully to her teacher, Jane was finally able to apprehensibly understand the grammar and was even able to explain it to her friend after class.
apprehension (ap" ri HEN shuhn) (s) (noun), apprehensions (pl)
1. Anticipation of adversity or misfortune; suspicion or fear of future trouble or evil: Even though the weather forecaster warned people not to drive because of the extremely slippery roads following the snow storm, Greg had to drive to work and so he was full of apprehension that he might have an accident on the way.
2. Fearful or uneasy anticipation of the future; dread: Many people have apprehensions regarding the coming times in the world because of the many continuous wars and terrorist attacks among so many countries.
3. The ability to understand something directly and immediately: Finally the moment of apprehension arrived when the students had their individual questions answered by the teacher.
4. Acceptance of or receptivity to information without passing judgment about its validity, often without complete comprehension: Sometimes the lectures were very difficult to understand and the apprehension of the content was quite meager, but the students did their best anyway at believing what the professor said!
5. A view, opinion, or idea on any subject: The apprehensions the designer had about modernizing the couple's home had to be discussed in detail before they were convinced of its necessity.
6. The act of arresting, seizing, or capturing; a seizure; an arrest: The apprehension of the culprit was published in the local newspaper and soon all the neighbors knew who it was and were glad that he wasn't running around town anymore.
apprehensive (adjective), more apprehensive, most apprehensive
1. Relating to being anxious or disturbed about the future: Peter felt most apprehensive about whether he passed his high school exams and could go to college in the fall.
2. Descriptive of being uneasy or fearful about something that might happen soon: Shirley was apprehensive about the potential of a severe snowstorm on the night of her concert recital.
3. A reference to being capable of understanding and quick to learn: Harry's apprehensive mind quickly analyzed the mechanical problem of the car.
Dreading what is about to happen.
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Anxious or afraid of what is going on.
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Fearful that something bad will happen.
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apprehensively (adverb), more apprehensively, most apprehensively
Descriptive of how someone is worried or anxious about something unpleasant which could happen: While Shirley was walking to the bus stop, she apprehensively moved away from the man who was walking towards her with his two dogs because she thought they might attack her.
apprehensiveness (s) (noun) (no plural form)
A fearful expectation or anticipation that something is not good and so it should be avoided: Mark had an apprehensiveness that going to work during the severe thunder storm was dangerous.
apprentice (s) (noun), apprentices (pl)
1. Someone who is bound by a legal agreement to serve another person for a fixed period of time in order to learn a trade or a business: The apprentice of the silversmith had signed a four-year agreement to work and to learn how to develop skills in making articles out of silver as a professional craftsman.
2. Any learner or beginner: Sam's pet was an apprentice that was learning to be a "seeing-eye dog" for his blind daughter.
3. Etymology: from Old French aprentiz, "someone learning", from aprendre, (Modern French apprendre) "to learn, to teach"; contracted from Latin apprehendere, "to take hold of, to grasp"; from ad-, "to" + prehendere, "to seize".
Someone who is learning a trade or a profession.
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apprenticeship (s) (noun), apprenticeships (pl)
A position learning a skill by working for some time with a professional: Leslie obtained an apprenticeship with a carpenter so he could start a career at the age of 18 years.
apprise (verb), apprises; apprised; apprising
To give information to someone, to inform: Mike wanted to be apprised of the cost of the trip to Hawaii.

After the medical examination, Mildred asked the doctor to please apprise her of the results as soon as he got them.

To notify or to inform.
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appriser (s) (noun), apprisers (pl)
Someone who considers something carefully and forms an opinion regarding it: Patricia was an appriser who went shopping and compared the prices for food products for economic reasons.
comprehend (verb), comprehends; comprehended; comprehending
1. To recognize the nature or essence of something; to grasp with the mind; to fathom: After Jill’s accident, and while she was in hospital, her friend Jane talked to her and finally comprehended what had caused this terrible tragedy and what it meant for her family.
2. To take in the meaning, nature, or importance of a situation; to mentally perceive and to understand what is going on: Mr. Smith explained the algebra assignment many times and finally the students comprehended how to solve the related mathematical problems.
To undrstand or to know something mentally.
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comprehensibility (s) (noun), comprehensibilities (pl)
A situation in which clarity and understanding are dominant: A lack of comprehensibility on the part of teachers will cause confusion among their students.

Newspapers must have a great deal of comprehensibility for their readers with pictures and articles.