apprehend

Word family

ap·pre·hend /ˌæprɪˈhend/ verb [transitiveT]

1 formalCATCH if the police apprehend a criminal, they catch him or her 逮捕，拘捕 SYN arrest

The police have failed to apprehend the culprits.

警方未能拘捕罪犯。

► see thesaurus at catch

2 old-fashioned to understand something 了解，明白

They were slow to apprehend the danger.

他们未能迅速意识到危险。

Examples from the Corpus

apprehend• But agents say that the longer the immigrants are on foot, the greater the chance of them being apprehended.• I would have a certain amount to lose in terms of reputation were I to be apprehended.• William Swain lived out the tensions that Jody only dimly apprehends.• The two men were later apprehended after they robbed another store.• Talk of molecules does not undermine the reality of consciously apprehended beauty and meaning.• Not that the organs of perception apprehended it at the time.• Agents at the Interstate 8 station apprehended more than 3,100 undocumented workers.• After several days however, with nobody apprehended, the papers indulged in a little poetic licence.

Origin apprehend