grasp

[grasp, grahsp]

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.

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

/ 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

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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of grasp¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of grasp¹

C14: from Low German grapsen; related to Old English græppian to seize, Old Norse grāpa to steal

Idioms and Phrases

• get a fix on (grasp of)

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

Any of Gein’s contemporaries who are still alive would have been too young to fully grasp the enormity of the way he desecrated the memory and bodies of their community’s loved ones.

Read more on Salon

The United Nations on Wednesday called the deaths in Israel's new military strikes on Gaza "appalling", as it urged all sides not to let peace "slip from our grasp".

Read more on Barron's

But she felt nobody grasped how serious things were for Mason: "It was the most basic nursing care and they would have known how sick he was."

Read more on BBC

Mr. Simon’s record was also one of the first to grasp the mid-’70s ennui of a generation fenced in by marital responsibilities and yearning for its earlier, wilder self.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It is nimble enough to twirl a delicate paper cylinder without crushing it, though in a recent demonstration, the object occasionally slipped from the hand’s grasp.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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