clasp
Americannoun
-
clasps
plural
-
a device, usually of metal, for fastening together two or more things or parts of the same thing.
a clasp for paper money; a clasp on a necklace.
-
a firm grasp or grip.
a clasp of hands.
-
a tight embrace.
She held the child in a loving clasp.
- Synonyms:
- hug
-
a small bar or metal design, as a star, for affixing to the ribbon of a military decoration to indicate that the bearer has been awarded the decoration an additional time.
verb (used with object)
-
clasps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
clasped,
past participle, past
-
claspt,
past participle, past (Archaic)
-
clasping
present participle
-
to fasten with or as with a clasp.
-
to furnish with a clasp.
-
to seize, grasp, or grip with the hand.
She clasped the club in her hand.
-
to hold in a tight embrace; hug.
He clasped the child to him.
verb (used without object)
-
clasps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
clasped,
past participle, past
-
claspt,
past participle, past (Archaic)
-
clasping
present participle
noun
-
a fastening, such as a catch or hook, used for holding things together
-
a firm grasp, hold, or embrace
-
military a bar or insignia on a medal ribbon, to indicate either a second award or the battle, campaign, or reason for its award
verb
-
to hold in a firm grasp
-
to grasp firmly with the hand
-
to fasten together with or as if with a clasp
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
claspsimple
-
claspssimple
-
have claspedperfect
-
have clasptperfect
-
has claspedperfect
-
has clasptperfect
-
am claspingprogressive
-
are claspingprogressive
-
is claspingprogressive
-
have been claspingperfect progressive
-
has been claspingperfect progressive
Past
-
claspedsimple
-
clasptsimple
-
had claspedperfect
-
had clasptperfect
-
was claspingprogressive
-
were claspingprogressive
-
had been claspingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clasp
1275–1325; Middle English clasp (noun), claspen (v.), perhaps blend of clippen clip 2 and haspe hasp
Explanation
A bracelet is held together by a clasp. A girl who gets a nice one from her boyfriend might clasp her arms around him. A clasp is a fastener. To clasp is to hold tightly. In all uses of the word, clasp means to hold together tightly. You want your bracelet or belt clasp to be strong so it doesn't come apart. And when you take a child on a walk across a busy intersection, you clasp their hand tightly. The word is not related to the word clap, but if you clap your hands together, then keep them there, you turn a clap to a clasp.
Vocabulary lists containing clasp
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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Beowulf vocabulary
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The Circuit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The items, which included a gold ring, a bracelet with a dragon's head clasp, and a collection of coins, had been buried by Vikings in the 9th Century and hidden for 1,100 years.
From BBC ● May 5, 2026
The tension between Altman and Amodei seemed to surface last week, when they were the only ones who didn’t clasp hands onstage during a group pose at an AI event in India.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
The medal was recovered, but she gave up trying to find the clasp that had failed to keep it connected to the ribbon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
The best thing to do is to crouch face-down, bend the legs underneath the torso and clasp both hands behind the neck, Nakae said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2025
I clasp my hands together to make them still.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
Some watched models carry crocodile handbags—revived from a 1920s design and finished with clasps featuring onyx—down the runway at Prada’s womenswear show last week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
In the video, one of the woman’s young daughters whimpers and the other clasps tightly to her distraught, Mickey ears headband-wearing mother while begging strangers for help.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024
He clasps his hands together, smiles and looks to the skies.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2024
His comedy had choreography, a visual language of pointing, air-sawing and face clasps.
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024
Apa leans back on his heels, clasps his hands behind him.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
At lunchtime, the prisoners in navy overalls file into the dining hall with heads bowed and hands clasped behind their backs.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Kinahan rose to his feet, with his hands clasped in front of him, when a court official read his charge to him on Sunday.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Shortly after hearing the sentence, a defiant-looking Guo nodded toward a courtroom packed with his supporters and clasped his hands in a praying motion, as he had done repeatedly during his trial.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Guarded by elite army commandos, their mascot Aloka -- a stray dog rescued in India -- walked on a leash, drawing bows and clasped hands from devotees lining the route.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
Her manner changed, the affable mood withdrawn as she clasped her hands against her long skirt.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
And what to read mine? is my booke claspt up?
From A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 1 by A. H. (Arthur Henry) Bullen
"What name?" an he put it i'th' book,— An shoo hardly seemed able to stand; As shoo tottered, he happened to luk saw summat claspt in her hand.
From Yorkshire Lyrics Poems written in the Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding of Yorkshire. To which are added a Selection of Fugitive Verses not in the Dialect by John Hartley
She even claspt my hand in her's, and said, "O Charles! is he very, very miserable?"
From The Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush by William Makepeace Thackeray
He looked soe rapt, with claspt hands and upraysed eyes, as that I coulde not but look on him and hear him with solemnitie.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 by Various
My lord, We have claspt your cause, believing that our brother Had wrong'd you; but this day he proffer'd peace.
From Becket and other plays by Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson
Nearby, a news conference by the head of Pakistan's parliamentary health committee over the cause of the fire was interrupted by a distraught father clasping his palms together in a plea.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
On the coastal road at Playa Canizo, a man in a straw hat and sodden fatigues, clasping an equally wet suitcase, thrust out his left arm, hoping for a ride to safety.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2025
On Saturday, he knew, walking toward home plate and clasping hands with Will Smith.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2025
“He doesn’t know he was in a movie,” said Leonberg, clasping a happily wriggling Indy, who doesn’t register me on the other end of the Zoom interview.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2025
“Mike!” screamed Mrs. Teavee, clasping her head in her hands.
From "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
