\Ap`pre*hen"sive\, a. [Cf. F. appr['e]hensif. See
{Apprehend}.]
1. Capable of apprehending, or quick to do so; apt;
   discerning.
         It may be pardonable to imagine that a friend, a
         kind and apprehensive . . . friend, is listening to
         our talk.                             --Hawthorne.
2. Knowing; conscious; cognizant. [R.]
         A man that has spent his younger years in vanity and
         folly, and is, by the grace of God, apprehensive of
         it.                                   --Jer. Taylor.
3. Relating to the faculty of apprehension.
         Judgment . . . is implied in every apprehensive act.
                                               --Sir W.
                                               Hamilton.
4. Anticipative of something unfavorable' fearful of what may
   be coming; in dread of possible harm; in expectation of
   evil.
         Not at all apprehensive of evils as a distance.
                                               --Tillotson.
         Reformers . . . apprehensive for their lives.
                                               --Gladstone.
5. Sensible; feeling; perceptive. [R.]
         Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings,
         Mangle my apprehensive, tenderest parts. --Milton.