different between affright vs apprehension

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??f?a?t/

Etymology 1

From Middle English afrighten, from Old English ?fyrhtan, equivalent to a- +? fright.

Noun

affright (plural affrights)

1. (archaic) Great fear, terror, fright.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:

     […] Then behold, there came up to us a huge fish, as big as a tall mountain, at whose sight we became wild for affright and, weeping sore, made ready for death, marvelling at its vast size and gruesome semblance; when lo! a second fish made its appearance than which we had seen naught more monstrous.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fear

Verb

affright (third-person singular simple present affrights, present participle affrighting, simple past and past participle affrighted)

1. (archaic, transitive) To terrify, to frighten, to inspire fright in.
   • 1629, John Milton, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity

     A drear and dying sound / Affrights the flamens at their service quaint.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:frighten

Etymology 2

From Middle English afright, from Old English ?fyrht (“terrified; afraid”), past participle of ?fyrhtan (“to terrify; make afraid”).

Alternative forms

• afright

Adjective

affright (comparative more affright, superlative most affright)

1. afraid; terrified; frightened

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin apprehensio, apprehensionis, compare with French appréhension. See apprehend.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /æp.???h?n.??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æp.?i?h?n.??n/

Noun

apprehension (countable and uncountable, plural apprehensions)

1. (rare) The physical act of seizing or taking hold of (something); seizing.
   • 2006, Phil Senter, "Comparison of Forelimb Function between Deinonychus and Babiraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridea)", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 26, no. 4 (Dec.), p. 905:

     The wing would have been a severe obstruction to apprehension of an object on the ground.

2. (law) The act of seizing or taking by legal process; arrest.
3. perception; the act of understanding using one's intellect without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment
   • 1815, Percy Bysshe Shelley, "On Life," in A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays (1840 edition):

     We live on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life.

4. Opinion; conception; sentiment; idea.
5. The faculty by which ideas are conceived or by which perceptions are grasped; understanding.
6. Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; dread or fear at the prospect of some future ill.

Usage notes

• Apprehension springs from a sense of danger when somewhat remote, but approaching; alarm arises from danger when announced as near at hand. Apprehension is less agitated and more persistent; alarm is more agitated and transient.

Synonyms

• (anticipation of unfavorable things): alarm
• (act of grasping with the intellect): awareness, sense
• See also Thesaurus:apprehension

Antonyms

• inapprehension

Related terms

Translations

References

• apprehension at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.