grasp

American  

[grasp, grahsp] / græsp, grɑsp /

verb (used with object)

1. to seize and hold by or as if by clasping with the fingers or arms.

   Synonyms:

   grab, clutch, clutch, grip

   Antonyms:

   release

2. to seize upon; hold firmly.

3. to get hold of mentally; comprehend; understand.

   I don't grasp your meaning.

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verb (used without object)

1. to make an attempt to seize, or a motion of seizing, something (usually followed by at orfor ).

   a drowning man grasping at straws; to grasp for an enemy's rifle.

noun

1. the act of grasping or gripping, as with the hands or arms.

   to make a grasp at something.

2. a hold or grip.

   to have a firm grasp of a rope.

3. one's arms or hands, in embracing or gripping.

   He took her in his grasp.

4. one's power of seizing and holding; reach.

   to have a thing within one's grasp.

5. hold, possession, or mastery.

   to wrest power from the grasp of a usurper.

   Synonyms:

   clutches

6. mental hold or capacity; power to understand.

   Synonyms:

   comprehension, apprehension, understanding

7. broad or thorough comprehension.

   a good grasp of computer programming.

grasp British  

/ ɡrɑːsp /

verb

1. to grip (something) firmly with or as if with the hands

2. to struggle, snatch, or grope (for)

3. (tr) to understand, esp with effort

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noun

1. the act of grasping

2. a grip or clasp, as of a hand

3. the capacity to accomplish (esp in the phrase within one's grasp )

4. total rule or possession

5. understanding; comprehension

grasp Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing grasp

• get a fix on (grasp of)

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Related Words

See catch. Grasp, reach refer to the power of seizing, either concretely or figuratively. Grasp suggests actually seizing and closing the hand upon something (or, figuratively, thoroughly comprehending something) and therefore refers to what is within one's possession or immediate possibility of possession: a good grasp of a problem; immense mental grasp. Reach suggests a stretching out of (usually) the hand to touch, strike, or, if possible, seize something; it therefore refers to a potentiality of possession that requires an effort. Figuratively, it implies perhaps a faint conception of something still too far beyond one to be definitely and clearly understood.

Other Word Forms

• graspable adjective
• grasper noun
• graspless adjective
• regrasp verb (used with object)
• ungraspable adjective
• ungrasped adjective

Etymology

Origin of grasp

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English graspen, grapsen; cognate with Low German grapsen; akin to Old English gegræppian “to seize” ( grapple )

Example Sentences

According to people who have worked with him, he still retains a superhuman grasp of numbers, and often recalls minute details from deals that others have long forgotten.

From The Wall Street Journal

So Shiffrin took to the snow knowing that Olympic hardware was within her grasp.

From The Wall Street Journal

The force of his grasp knocked her name tag from her shirt, and it went fluttering toward the ground, showing the name, then the blank side, then the name, then the blank side.

From Literature

Adeliia Petrosian, 18, carries Russian hopes as she bids to keep the women's gold in her country's grasp for a fourth consecutive Games.

From Barron's

"But we don't have a solid grasp on how the brain performs computations yet."

From Science Daily

Related Words

• accept
• appreciate
• comprehend
• fathom
• perceive
• pick up
• realize