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:
You can only smile and wave and clasp your hands for so long.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026
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 devices, made by London-based Greyparrot, use artificial intelligence to identify recyclables, flag food-grade material, gauge items’ mass, assess market value and calculate points at which a robotic claw might best clasp each piece.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 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 the steering wheel, afraid it will take flight.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
Lindo laughs, clasps his hands together and raises them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
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
The bag of the season was a no-nonsense cross-body with metal clasps.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2024
She slides onto the bench opposite and clasps her wrinkly hands around a cup of water.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
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
While the other candidates pressed their palms against the podiums, ready to pounce on every question, Becerra clasped his hands like an altar boy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 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
Clare drew his cloak from her, clasped it around his neck, and crept into the shadows.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
She knew me, and acknowledged me her heir, Pray'd me to pay her debts, and keep the Faith: Then claspt the cross, and pass'd away in peace.
From Queen Mary and Harold by Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson
Thou art a slave, whom fortune's tender arm With favour never claspt; but bred a dog.
From Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies by Arthur Sherbo
"Then come, oh Spirit, from behind "The curtains of thy radiant home, "If thou wouldst be as angel shrined, "Or loved and claspt as mortal, come!
From The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Collected by Himself with Explanatory Notes by William Michael Rossetti
In one hand he carried a port-folio, and his other paw claspt a bunch of small brushes.
From The Complete Works of Artemus Ward — Part 2: War by Artemus Ward
Bow me durst I not——————-Bever'd I and shook when that baron claspt me . . . . . . . . . —————- but dar'd I not to bow me earthward .
From Studies from Court and Cloister: being essays, historical and literary dealing mainly with subjects relating to the XVIth and XVIIth centuries by J. M. (Jean Mary) Stone
Manuel Alarcon, her father, was seated in the crowd, clasping his hands in rapt attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 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
“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
A photograph released by Eritrea in the wake of the meeting shows President Isaias Afwerki clasping hands with his counterparts from Egypt, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, and Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2024
“Agreed,” she murmured, clasping her hands behind her back.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
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.
