2. The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest; as, the felon, after his apprehension, escaped. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception. [ 1913 Webster ]

Simple apprehension denotes no more than the soul's naked intellection of an object. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In this sense, the word often denotes a belief, founded on sufficient evidence to give preponderation to the mind, but insufficient to induce certainty; as, in our apprehension, the facts prove the issue. [ 1913 Webster ]

To false, and to be thought false, is all one in respect of men, who act not according to truth, but apprehension. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The faculty by which ideas are conceived; understanding; as, a man of dull apprehension. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; distrust or fear at the prospect of future evil. [ 1913 Webster ]

After the death of his nephew Caligula, Claudius was in no small apprehension for his own life. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Apprehension, Alarm. Apprehension springs from a sense of danger when somewhat remote, but approaching; alarm arises from danger when announced as near at hand. Apprehension is calmer and more permanent; alarm is more agitating and transient. [ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Judgment . . . is implied in every apprehensive act. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Anticipative of something unfavorable' fearful of what may be coming; in dread of possible harm; in expectation of evil. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not at all apprehensive of evils as a distance. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Reformers . . . apprehensive for their lives. Gladstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Sensible; feeling; perceptive. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings,
Mangle my apprehensive, tenderest parts. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lest this part of knowledge should seem to any not comprehensible by axiom, we will set down some heads of it. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of being understood; intelligible; conceivable by the mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

The horizon sets the bounds . . . between what is and what is not comprehensible by us. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Intelligibly; in a manner to be comprehended or understood. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the Old Testament there is a close comprehension of the New; in the New, an open discovery of the Old. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is comprehended or inclosed within narrow limits; a summary; an epitome. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Though not a catalogue of fundamentals, yet . . . a comprehension of them. Chillingworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The capacity of the mind to perceive and understand; the power, act, or process of grasping with the intellect; perception; understanding; as, a comprehension of abstract principles. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Logic) The complement of attributes which make up the notion signified by a general term. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Rhet.) A figure by which the name of a whole is put for a part, or that of a part for a whole, or a definite number for an indefinite. [ 1913 Webster ]

A very comprehensive definition. Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Large and comprehensive idea. Channing. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having the power to comprehend or understand many things. “His comprehensive head.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) Possessing peculiarities that are characteristic of several diverse groups. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term is applied chiefly to early fossil groups which have a combination of structures that appear in more fully developed or specialized forms in later groups. Synthetic, as used by Agassiz, is nearly synonymous.

Syn. -- Extensive; wide; large; full; compendious. [ 1913 Webster ]

Compare the beauty and comprehensiveness of legends on ancient coins. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

When I shall have dispatched this weary pilgrimage, and from a traveler shall come to be a comprehensor, farewell faith and welcome vision. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Dep`re*hen"si*ble*ness, n. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

The constant, universal sense of all antiquity unanimously confessing an incomprehensibility in many of the articles of the Christian faith. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Not capable of being contained within limits. [ 1913 Webster ]

An infinite and incomprehensible substance. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not capable of being comprehended or understood; beyond the reach of the human intellect; inconceivable. [ 1913 Webster ]

And all her numbered stars that seem to roll
Spaces incomprehensible. Milton.

-- In*com`pre*hen"si*ble*ness, n. -- In*com`pre*hen"si*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

This Basilius took as though his mistress had given him a secret reprehension that he had not showed more gratefulness to Dorus. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Censure; reproof; reprimand. See Admonition. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Rep`re*hen"sive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

Narrow-spirited, uncomprehensive zealots. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Incomprehensible. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]