apprehends

verb

present tense third-person singular of apprehend
1
as in knows
to have a clear idea of do you apprehend the importance of this discovery?

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in arrests
to take or keep under one's control by authority of law the agency charged with apprehending criminals who have violated federal law

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of apprehends John Early, as anyone encountering his work soon apprehends, chooses the latter. — Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 7 June 2026 Though the team immediately apprehends a suspect, the Marshals end up taking criticism from both sides. — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 21 Mar. 2026 Neighbors are now living in fear, looking on as ICE apprehends people of color across Minnesota. — Jason Rantala, CBS News, 19 Jan. 2026 The team successfully seizes two tons of gold and apprehends the leader of the criminal network. — Isabella Wandermurem, Time, 14 Jan. 2026 Suppose the number is read in one case out of a hundred, and that the information reaches someone who apprehends the culprit in one case out of one thousand. — Thomas Brewster, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apprehends
  1. knows
  2. arrests
  3. understands
  4. seizes
  5. recognizes
  6. detains
  7. comprehends
  8. grabs
Verb
  • Hernández knows how to fire up a crowd in a big postseason moment.
    — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Compounding the mystery is the fact that no one outside of Disney really knows how well The Shards performed for FX and Hulu.
    — Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of knows
Verb
  • Keith arrests our thinking, and cons us into suppressing our critical faculties with the same kind of internalized surveillance that philosopher Michel Foucault broke down to describe a prison’s use of the panopticon in Discipline and Punish.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 May 2026
  • Devlin throws a punch at Stone when the chief arrests him for drunken driving.
    — Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 19 Apr. 2026
Definition of arrests
Verb
  • Deadline understands, for example, that Brittin sat down with Greg Peters when the Netflix co-CEO visited London in recent weeks.
    — Jake Kanter, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Teplinsky understands this can be a trickier risk factor to avoid completely.
    — Norah O'Donnell, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of understands
Verb
  • That reporting revealed that the state frequently seizes money from legal settlements stemming from medical malpractice, police brutality, workplace injury and other wrongful death lawsuits.
    — Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Wilson, meanwhile, seizes on the opening to play teacher’s pet.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 13 Sep. 2026
Definition of seizes
Verb
  • The honor recognizes artists whose careers and creative choices illuminate complex, boundary-crossing stories and expand representation in global entertainment.
    — Mathew Scott, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Best Pop Solo Performance can be a space where the Recording Academy recognizes — and perhaps awards — artists with songs that truly connect with the world, regardless of vocal chops.
    — Jaeden Pinder, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of recognizes
Verb
  • The Midwest Regional Reception Center detains close to 500 fathers, mothers, spouses, cousins and friends on behalf of ICE.
    — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The policy guidance applies to agents under Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that detains and ultimately deports undocumented immigrants.
    — Philip Wang, Time, 14 July 2026
Definition of detains
Verb
  • In an oppositional reading of a media text, the audience comprehends that the message conflicts with or contradicts their personal experiences of society.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 May 2026
  • In the end, A Guardian and a Thief is a story that comprehends hunger more deeply than the world that produces it.
    — Tope Folarin, The Atlantic, 8 Nov. 2025
Definition of comprehends
Verb
  • Over the course of Next Gen NYC’s season, which ended this past week, the model Ava Dash grabs a slice of pizza on Fulton Street; strolls through the Seaport; and calls her father, the hip-hop mogul Damon Dash, from a bench at Pier 17.
    — Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Ryan opens it, grabs a Diet Coke and asks one of his assistants to summon a cup of ice.
    — Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of grabs

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apprehending
apprehends
apprehensible
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Cite this Entry

“Apprehends.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apprehends. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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