What's the difference between
nab, arrest, apprehend, capture, and catch?

Can I use them all interchangeably in police-criminals contexts both in written and spoken English?

Question

What's the difference between
nab, arrest, apprehend, capture, and catch?

Can I use them all interchangeably in police-criminals contexts both in written and spoken English?

Answer

Probably, mostly.

nab - used mostly to mean apprehend, chase & capture, an immediacy or sense of being physically present.
arrest - restrain, stop.
apprehend - chase down
capture - make no longer at liberty
catch - secure, difficult to define without using the other words. As in chase (possibly figuratively) & successfully capture

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