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:
A poem declares that “love is like a clasp of jade.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
It slows its descent and guides itself with pinpoint precision so it can be captured by a clasp called Mechazilla, or "the chopsticks", by engineers who have achieved something that's never been done before.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 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
“Conclave” had a religious supervisor on set, who taught them the proper way to clasp their hands in prayer and cross themselves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2024
At Independence in 1960, Nigeria was a collection of fragments held in a fragile clasp.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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 one, she clasps her hands — one diamond-laden, of course — to her mouth in astonishment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 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
Saleem’s wife clasps his hands and pulls him aside.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
During Slide Away, a man sinks to his knees and sings the lyrics, his hands clasped together as if in prayer.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 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
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
Brigit clasped Ella's hand, and they paddled to the cavern wall.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
She knew me, and acknowledg'd me her heir, Pray'd me to keep her debts, and keep the Faith; Then claspt the cross, and pass'd away in peace.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden
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
At last I hooked my ankle in a vine, That claspt the feet of a Mnemosyne, And falling on my face was caught and known.
From The Princess by Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson
"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
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
Another was likely written while in China: “A soldier, yet a priest / clasping my hands in prayer / toward the moon.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
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
His brothers and wife, clasping hands, sat in the first row watching.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 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
“Farewell, Harry,” said Hestia, also clasping his hand.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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