different between fright vs apprehension

English

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: fr?t, IPA^(key): /f?a?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• (Canada, Northern US) IPA^(key): /f??it/

Etymology 1

From Middle English fright, furht, from Old English fryhtu, fyrhto (“fright, fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *furht?? (“fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr?k- (“to fear”).

Cognate with Scots fricht (“fright”), Old Frisian fruchte (“fright”), Low German frucht (“fright”), Middle Dutch vrucht, German Furcht (“fear, fright”), Danish frygt (“fear”), Swedish fruktan (“fear, fright, dread”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (faurhtei, “fear, horror, fright”). Compare possibly Albanian frikë (“fear, fright, dread, danger”).

Noun

fright (countable and uncountable, plural frights)

1. A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.
2. Anything strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, I:

     Her maids were old, and if she took a new one,

     You might be sure she was a perfect fright;

     She did this during even her husband's life

     I recommend as much to every wife.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fright (third-person singular simple present frights, present participle frighting, simple past and past participle frighted)

1. (archaic, transitive) To frighten.

Derived terms

• befright

Etymology 2

Probably short for affright, from Middle English afright, from Old English ?fyrht, past participle of ?fyrhtan (“to make afraid; terrify”).

Adjective

fright (comparative more fright, superlative most fright)

1. (rare) frightened; afraid; affright

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

fright

1. Alternative form of frith

References

• “frith, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Etymology 2

From Old English fryhtu, from earlier fyrhtu, from Proto-Germanic *furht??.

Alternative forms

• fri?t, freyhte, fyrht, furht, frigt, fry?t

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?frixt(?)/, [?friçt(?)]

Noun

fright (plural *frightes)

1. A fright or scare.

Related terms

• frighten
• frightful (rare)
• frighti (rare)
• frightly (rare)

Descendants

• English: fright
• Scots: fricht

References

• “fright, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.

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.