grapple
Americanverb (used without object)
-
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
They wanted to grapple as well with John’s struggles, such as his unresolved grief over losing his father at an early age and his awareness of his own mortality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
This family is, like so many others today, attempting to grapple with the many questions and the moral and ethical issues that surround the “birth” of HeLa, and the “death” of Mrs. Lacks.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
As Greece grapples with a succession of massive wildfires, Theodore Giannaros, a senior wildfire meteorologist at the National Observatory told AFP on Monday the country faced "one of the worst fire crises" in recent memory.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
Blue Owl Capital is aggressively emphasizing its transition to a multi-strategy alternative assets manager as it grapples with investor withdrawals from some of its direct-lending vehicles and investments in software businesses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 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
There is anger and fear, as well as hope and acceptance, exposing the growing anxieties over immigration and social change as Japan grapples with a labour shortage from a shrinking and ageing population.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
As they drew near enough to use their grapples, the captain mounted the rail.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Global government bond yields rose to multiyear highs before losing some steam in late Tuesday U.S. trading as investors grappled with rising economic uncertainty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
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
In their grief, Schreiber’s family has turned to the questions Jake grappled with his whole life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The shift came as the world's biggest economy grappled with fallout from war in the Middle East, while imports of tech goods linked to the country's data center buildout remained strong.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
She drew strength from the older man’s steadfast support and intellectual nourishment from his commanding intelligence, which grappled with a wide range of issues, from anticolonial movements in Africa to presidential politics here at home.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
How a trendy Canadian retailer is grappling with Trump’s tariffs.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Iran had already been grappling with sky-high inflation before the war, which fuelled an anti-government protest movement that peaked in January.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Plus, explore a no-longer-secret Portuguese beach town, and look at how the publishing industry is grappling with the rise of generative AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
OpenAI has been grappling with legal hurdles too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
He wrenched it from Ser Loras's hand, and suddenly the two were grappling mount-to- mount, and an instant later they were falling.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
