come to grips with

Idioms  

1. Confront squarely, deal decisively with, as in Her stories help the children come to grips with upsetting events. This term, sometimes put as get to grips with, employs grip in the sense of a “tight hold.” [Mid-1900s]

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Example Sentences

If that special story is wrong, he said, the Fed has “to come to grips with that” by acknowledging rates may not be high enough to bring down inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026

U.S. companies and the federal government haven’t come to grips with Americans’ longer lives, Stern says.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 18, 2025

“I’m hoping that they’ll come to grips with how the American people are suffering,” said another.

From Salon • Nov. 6, 2025

Meanwhile, in Utah, witnesses, law enforcement and state and local leaders continue to come to grips with the trauma of the day.

From BBC • Sep. 10, 2025

Leaning back in the soft chairs of their offices with plenty of time on their hands to talk and reflect, they said they had come to grips with the hard reality of the world.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger