SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
apprehensive
adjective
Worried that something unpleasant may happen.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The apprehensive family
These forms are closely related, but their grammar and use are not identical. Expand a form to compare its meaning and examples.
apprehensionnoun
An uneasy expectation that something unpleasant may happen.
Uneasy anticipation
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
He felt apprehension before presenting his first proposal.
The volunteers' apprehension grew as they imagined disappointed contributors arriving to find their work absent from the display.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See apprehensive in use
The new performer was apprehensive about the audition.
On her first evening at a bookbinding class, Mira was apprehensive about joining people who already seemed to know one another.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license