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uneasy or fearful about something that might happen:
apprehensive for the safety of the mountain climbers.
quick to learn or understand.
perceptive; discerning (usually followed by of).
Contemporary Examples

At first everyone was apprehensive about it, but I said to her, “You sound like you were influenced by Dinah Washington.”
Tony Bennett’s Winehouse Duet Jacob Bernstein September 19, 2011

He was a shy and apprehensive boy who refused to leave the safety of his stroller in the park.
When Did My 13-Year-Old Son Become a ‘Player?’ Laura Bennett February 28, 2009

Two-seventy happened and with it the apprehensive city at last let out a collective whoop of relief and jubilation.
The Capital Goes Nuts Simon Schama November 5, 2008

You find yourself reading, impressed, entertained, identifying, yet vaguely repulsed and apprehensive for him.
Who Is Philip Roth’s Portnoy Satirizing? Bernard Avishai August 27, 2012

Last month Kelly outlined detailed security plans for a trial of KSM at a private breakfast with apprehensive business leaders.
Taming Haiti’s Lawless Streets Lloyd Grove February 1, 2010

Historical Examples

If you are apprehensive of its becoming sour, put into each bottle a lump of pearl-ash the size of a hazle-nut.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches Eliza Leslie

But Helen left him no time to finish his apprehensive inquiries.
The Law-Breakers Ridgwell Cullum

Men were serious, alert and restless as if apprehensive of some impending calamity.
The History of Company A, Second Illinois Cavalry Samuel H. Fletcher

While Sutter looked on with apprehensive eyes, he began to tinker with the wiring.
Made in Tanganyika Carl Richard Jacobi

Upon this sand I occasionally cast a reflective and apprehensive eye.
Biltmore Oswald J. Thorne Smith, Jr.

adjective
fearful or anxious
adj.

late 14c., “capable of perceiving, fitted for mental impression,” from Medieval Latin apprehensivus, from Latin apprehensus, past participle of apprehendere (see apprehend). Meaning “fearful of what is to come” is recorded from 1718, via notion of “capable of grasping with the mind” (c.1600). Related: Apprehensively; apprehensiveness.