apprehension
Uneasy feeling ahead
Apprehension has two main meanings that seem unrelated but share an underlying sense of grasping or seizing.
The more common meaning is anxious unease about something that might happen: She felt growing apprehension as the interview approached.
The other meaning involves the act of arresting or capturing someone: The suspect's apprehension followed a three-day manhunt.
A third, more formal sense refers to understanding or perception: His apprehension of the situation proved accurate.
Troubled mental state
- nervousnessState of anxious unease
- uneaseMild persistent worry
- trepidationFearful uncertainty
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
foreboding · misgiving · disquiet · angst · jitters · butterflies · edginess · restlessness
Extreme, overwhelming fear
- horrorExtreme fear or disgust
- frightSudden intense fear
- phobiaPersistent irrational dread
- nightmareFrightening dream causing wakefulness
chill · shiver · tremble · spooked · startled · petrified · aghast · dismay
Belief about future outcomes
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
- presentimentVague sense of future events
- prospectPotential client or opportunity
foresight · forethought · awaiting · watchfulness · suspense · portent · omen · inkling
Seize or understand
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
- awarenessState of perceiving reality
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
- discernmentKeen perception and judgment
insight · recognition · realization · cognizance · interpretation · conception · knowledge · intuition
worry
Troubled mental state
- nervousnessState of anxious unease
- uneaseMild persistent worry
- trepidationFearful uncertainty
dread · foreboding · misgiving · disquiet · angst · jitters · butterflies · edginess · restlessness · tension
terror
Extreme, overwhelming fear
nightmare · chill · shiver · tremble · spooked · startled · petrified · aghast · dismay · revulsion
expectation
Belief about future outcomes
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
- forebodingFearful anticipation of harm
- presentimentVague sense of future events
prospect · foresight · forethought · awaiting · watchfulness · suspense · portent · omen · inkling · hunch
grasp
Seize or understand
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
- awarenessState of perceiving reality
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
discernment · insight · recognition · realization · cognizance · interpretation · conception · knowledge · intuition · acumen
custody
Protective care or control
handcuffs · warrant · suspect · fugitive · pursuit · manhunt · collar · nabbing · booking · police
- emotionsjoy, anger, fear, sadness, love
- Anxietyanxiety, nervousness, panic, worry, generalized anxiety
- cognitionthinking, reasoning, thought, cognition, remembering
- fearfear, dread, afraid, fright, frightened
- stressstress, chronic stress, acute stress, strain, stressor
- agitationagitation, anxiety, worry, nervousness, unease
apprehensionconfidence
Self-assurance or trust
calm · calmness · serenity · tranquility · ease
apprehensionincomprehension
Lack of understanding
misunderstanding · miscomprehension · misapprehension · misperception · confusion
apprehensionrelease
To let go
liberation · emancipation · discharge · freedom · freeing
apprehensive, apprehensiveness, apprehensively, misapprehension, apprehensions, misapprehensions