get a grip on

Idioms  

1. Also, have a grip on. Obtain mastery or control over something or someone. For example, Get a grip on yourself or the reporters will give you a hard time, or, as Arthur Conan Doyle put it in Sherlock Holmes (1894): “I have a grip on the essential facts of the case.” This expression transfers a firm physical hold to emotional or intellectual control. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

In north London, which is in the midst of a measles outbreak, officials are looking to places like Birmingham for ways to get a grip on it.

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2026

There are broader geopolitical reasons for the U.S. to get a grip on Latin America.

From Barron's • Jan. 5, 2026

Iran appointed a new central bank governor this week, Abdolnaser Hemmati, who promised to get a grip on inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 31, 2025

It’s a key sequence in the script, yet we can’t get a grip on whether it’s horrific luck or a game of six-dimensional chess.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 20, 2025

After the rescue team dispersed, I sat in the snow for a long while by myself, staring at my boots, endeavoring to get a grip on what had happened over the preceding seventy-two hours.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer