grapple

[grap-uhl]

verb (used without object)

grappled, grappling 

1. to hold or make fast to something, as with a grapple.

2. to use a grapple.

3. to seize another, or each other, in a firm grip, as in wrestling; clinch.

4. to engage in a struggle or close encounter (usually followed bywith ).

   He was grappling with a boy twice his size.

5. to try to overcome or deal (usually followed bywith ).

   to grapple with a problem.

   Synonyms: tussle, cope, wrestle, contend, struggle

verb (used with object)

grappled, grappling 

1. to seize, hold, or fasten with or as with a grapple.

2. to seize in a grip, take hold of.

   The thug grappled him around the neck.

noun

1. a hook or an iron instrument by which one thing, as a ship, fastens onto another; grapnel.

2. a seizing or gripping.

3. a grip or close hold in wrestling or hand-to-hand fighting.

4. a close, hand-to-hand fight.

grapple

/ ˈɡræpəl /

verb

1. to come to grips with (one or more persons), esp to struggle in hand-to-hand combat

2. to cope or contend

   to grapple with a financial problem

3. (tr) to secure with a grapple

noun

1. any form of hook or metal instrument by which something is secured, such as a grapnel

2. 1. the act of gripping or seizing, as in wrestling

   2. a grip or hold

3. a contest of grappling, esp a wrestling match

Other Word Forms

• grappler noun
• intergrapple verb
• ungrappled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of grapple¹

1520–30; apparently a frequentative of Old English gegrǣppian to seize; associated with grapnel

Word History and Origins

Origin of grapple¹

C16: from Old French grappelle a little hook, from grape hook; see _grapnel

Example Sentences

The warning resurfaced on social media this week, going viral as users grappled with the unnerving reality of the Times’ editorial foresight.

Read more on Salon

U.K. inhabitants of Hall’s native Cumbria region have grappled for centuries with a wind known as “The Helm.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It is fascinating that recent movies that attempt to grapple with contemporary sociopolitical issues often feminize the threat: the #MeToo cancel culture fable “Tár” or this year’s academia scandal film “After the Hunt.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

These losses haunt the memoir; she grapples with them by returning to the stage with a fierce new hunger.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Death, however, lingers over the album like a dense fog, as Burns grapples with the loss of her father on Christmas Day 2020, and her grandfather, John Burns, who passed away last April.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• confront 
• contend 
• cope 
• deal with