THE FIRST WORD

reprehend

PRONUNCIATION:

(rep-ri-HEND) 

MEANING:

verb tr.: To disapprove or to reprimand.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin reprehendere (to hold back, to censure), from re- (intensive) + prehendere (to seize). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghend-/ghed- (to seize or to take), which is also the source of pry, prey, spree, reprise, surprise, pregnant, osprey, prison, get, impregnable, impresa, and prise. Earliest documented use: 1382.

USAGE:

"The false quotation was therefore one of those flashy worthless attempts at wit that I so much reprehend in others."
Patrick O'Brian; The Truelove; W.W. Norton; 1993.