appreˈhensiveness
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
1. Aptness to apprehend; intelligence, perceptiveness, discernment.
| a 1639 Reliq. Wotton. 81 We shall often mark in it [the eye] a dulness, or apprehensiveness, even before the understanding. 1702 S. P[arker] Tully's De Fin. 144 The Winged World make frequent Discoveries of their Apprehensiveness and Memory. 1805 Wordsw. Prel. viii. (1851) 190 Yet knowledge came..In fits of kindliest apprehensiveness, From all sides. |
2. The habit of anticipating things adverse; fearfulness as to what may be coming.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) IV. 243 So much apprehensiveness that her fears are aforehand with her dangers. 1860 A. L. Windsor Ethica vii. 399 Nervous anxiety and..exaggerated apprehensiveness. |