Word of the Day

: November 17, 2008

prehension

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noun pree-HEN-shun

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What It Means

1 : the act of taking hold, seizing, or grasping

2 : mental understanding : comprehension

3 : apprehension by the senses

prehension in Context

The new surgery claims to offer an increase in hand prehension and successful use of the hand after a nerve transplant.

Did You Know?

It's easy to grasp the origins of "prehension" -- it descends from the Latin verb "prehendere," which means "to seize” or “to grasp." Other descendants of "prehendere" in English include "apprehend," "comprehend" ("to grasp the nature or significance of"), "prehensile" ("adapted for seizing or grasping"), "prison," "reprise," and "reprisal." Even the English word "get" comes to us from the same ancient root that led to the Latin "prehendere."