apprehension
noun
Simple meaning
Perception; the act of understanding using one's intellect without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aprihhehnshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
æpɹɪˈhɛnʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Perception; the act of understanding using one's intellect without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment
Anticipation, especially of unfavorable things such as dread or fear or the prospect of something unpleasant in the future.
The faculty by which ideas are conceived or by which perceptions are grasped; understanding.
Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Perception; the act of understanding using one's intellect without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment
Used this way, apprehension is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use apprehension
- “The student looked around the examination room with apprehension.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Immediate intuitive awareness.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: perception
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Related Learning
Guides that use this word in context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “apprehension” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.