grapple
Americanverb (used without object)
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grapples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
grappled,
past participle, past
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grappling
present participle
-
to hold or make fast to something, as with a grapple.
-
to use a grapple.
-
to seize another, or each other, in a firm grip, as in wrestling; clinch.
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to engage in a struggle or close encounter (usually followed bywith ).
He was grappling with a boy twice his size.
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to try to overcome or deal (usually followed bywith ).
to grapple with a problem.
verb (used with object)
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grapples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
grappled,
past participle, past
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grappling
present participle
-
to seize, hold, or fasten with or as with a grapple.
-
to seize in a grip, take hold of.
The thug grappled him around the neck.
noun
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grapples
plural
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a hook or an iron instrument by which one thing, as a ship, fastens onto another; grapnel.
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a seizing or gripping.
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a grip or close hold in wrestling or hand-to-hand fighting.
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a close, hand-to-hand fight.
verb
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to come to grips with (one or more persons), esp to struggle in hand-to-hand combat
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to cope or contend
to grapple with a financial problem
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(tr) to secure with a grapple
noun
-
any form of hook or metal instrument by which something is secured, such as a grapnel
-
-
the act of gripping or seizing, as in wrestling
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a grip or hold
-
-
a contest of grappling, esp a wrestling match
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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grapplesimple
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grapplessimple
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have grappledperfect
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has grappledperfect
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am grapplingprogressive
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are grapplingprogressive
-
is grapplingprogressive
-
have been grapplingperfect progressive
-
has been grapplingperfect progressive
Past
-
grappledsimple
-
had grappledperfect
-
was grapplingprogressive
-
were grapplingprogressive
-
had been grapplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grapple
1520–30; apparently a frequentative of Old English gegrǣppian to seize; associated with grapnel
Explanation
When you wrestle with something — literally or figuratively — you grapple with it, or try to overcome it. If you trace the word grapple back to its French roots, you’ll discover that the word originally referred to "a grape hook," a pronged tool used to harvest grapes. If you think about how awkward it would be to harvest grapes, with the individual grapes ready to scatter everywhere, it makes sense that grapple eventually evolved to include a verb form used to describe struggling with something unruly. You might grapple with a budget shortfall, grapple for answers, grapple with a wrestling opponent, or grapple with a new technology.
Vocabulary lists containing grapple
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The Crucible
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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:
He enslaved more than 100 people at Mount Vernon, and historians continue to grapple with the contradiction between the nation’s founding ideals and the human bondage practiced by its first president, among his strong mythology.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Analysts had expected a 0.1 percent uptick in retail sales in July, and all eyes are on US consumer health as households grapple with inflation while drawing down on their savings.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
As they grapple with their finances, they know that every filled seat in a lecture hall comes with tuition fee funding.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The family must grapple with a dwindling stockpile of resources and the mysterious “threat” that keeps them trapped inside the home, the statement read.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
One of his teammates, Jerrod McDougal, had taken senior English the previous summer so that he wouldn’t have to grapple with it during the football season.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1 percent, likely a result of falling labor supply as the US economy grapples with an aging population and lower net migration.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
He takes over as the airline grapples with a series of safety and operational challenges, led by last June's fatal Ahmedabad-London crash, a major setback to its ambitions.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The Reserve Bank of India will deliver its closely-watched monetary policy decision on Wednesday, as the central bank grapples with inflationary risks against the backdrop of economic uncertainties for growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Jordan grapples with questions similar to those facing its gulf neighbors, all of which rely on the U.S. security umbrella that has exposed their nations to Iranian attack.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
As they drew near enough to use their grapples, the captain mounted the rail.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
The revelation came as the country grappled with whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leaks exposing the vast reach of the agency’s surveillance.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Again Machado Garry survived until the end of the round and although he found some success with a number of kicks midway through the fight, Makhachev continued to assert control when the pair grappled.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
In their grief, Schreiber’s family has turned to the questions Jake grappled with his whole life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
At a city commission workshop in Winter Haven, in central Florida, last week, commissioners grappled with the amendment’s potential fallout.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
A glider...my brain grappled with the shape of the thing, a Concorde...a mutant angel falling to earth….
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
The companies themselves are grappling with rising costs for materials, labor and fuel.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
A lot of dyed-in-the-wool activists were turned off by the flippancy of AOC’s riposte, and even with my own recent grappling over the problematic emotional landscape of the movement, I can understand why.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
You have got one who focuses mainly on wrestling and grappling, the other who focuses on striking and anti-grappling.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
While Gafill is hopeful that the fire won’t get close to his restaurant, which has been in his family for decades, he’s grappling with a loss of thousands of dollars for each day he’s closed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
It was the spidery end of the grappling hook, which after several attempts had finally stuck onto something on the tower.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
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.
