apprehend
[verb]
Synonyms:
- arrest, capture, catch, nick (slang, chiefly Brit.), seize, take prisoner
- understand, comprehend, conceive, get the picture, grasp, perceive, realize, recognize

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Antonyms: misapprehend
Related Idioms: catch (or get) the drift of, get the idea, get through one's head, make head or tail of, be on pins and needles, have one's heart in one's mouth, wait with bated breath, be acquainted with, be cognizant of
Related Words: realize, recognize, sense, absorb, digest, seize, catch on, wise (up), penetrate, dread, fear

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English Thesaurus: catch, arrest, apprehend, capture, take somebody prisoner, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

ap‧pre‧hend /ˌæprɪˈhend/ verb [transitive]
[Date: 1300-1400; Language: Latin; Origin: apprehendere 'to take hold of', from ad- 'to' + prehendere 'to seize']

1. formal if the police apprehend a criminal, they catch him or her Synonym : arrest:
The police have failed to apprehend the culprits.

2. old-fashioned to understand something:
They were slow to apprehend the danger.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

catch to stop someone who is trying to escape, especially by running after them and then holding them:
He raced after her, but he couldn’t catch her.
The police caught the bank robbers after a car chase through the city.
arrest if the police arrest someone, they take him or her to a police station because they think that person has done something illegal:
Wayne was arrested for dangerous driving.
The police arrested him and charged him with murder.
apprehend formal if the police apprehend someone they think has done something illegal, they catch him or her:
The two men were later apprehended after they robbed another store.
The killers were never apprehended.
All of the kidnappers were apprehended and convicted.
capture to catch an enemy or a criminal in order to keep them as a prisoner:
The French king was captured by the English at the battle of Poitiers in 1356.
The gunmen were finally captured after a shoot-out with the police.
take somebody prisoner to catch someone, especially in a war, in order to keep them as a prisoner:
350 soldiers were killed and another 300 taken prisoner.
Ellison was taken prisoner by the Germans during the retreat to Dunkirk.
trap to make someone go to a place from which they cannot escape, especially by using your skill and intelligence:
Police trapped the man inside a bar on the city’s southside.
corner to force someone into a place from which they cannot escape:
He was cornered outside the school by three gang members.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲