grapple
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.
to engage in a struggle or close encounter (usually followed by with): He was grappling with a boy twice his size.
to try to overcome or deal (usually followed by with): to grapple with a problem.
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.
a hook or an iron instrument by which one thing, as a ship, fastens onto another; grapnel.
a seizing or gripping.
a grip or close hold in wrestling or hand-to-hand fighting.
a close, hand-to-hand fight.
Origin of grapple
1Other words for grapple
Other words from grapple
- grappler, noun
- in·ter·grap·ple, verb, in·ter·grap·pled, in·ter·grap·pling.
- un·grap·pled, adjective
Words Nearby grapple
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use grapple in a sentence
Those two lines cross, and slide up one another, and then there’s a grapple and capture.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through May 7) | Singularity Hub Staff | May 7, 2022 | Singularity HubEven the newest and most important addition to his arsenal, a grapple hook that lets you rocket toward and swing around structures, mountains, and enemies like you’re some sort of gun-toting Spider-Man, is derivative, and not that intuitive to use.
Halo Infinite Made Me Love Gaming With Friends Again | Patrick Lucas Austin | December 13, 2021 | TimeIn hindsight, like many who suffer from eating disorders, it was a misguided and desperate grapple for control at a time when the great themes of my life were in chaos.
The White House, however, does not grapple with the essentiality of good ground forces now.
There’s Only One Way to Beat ISIS: Work With Assad and Iran | Leslie H. Gelb | October 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn Ferguson and many towns like it, majority African-American communities most grapple with mostly white county governments.
I believe that there are evil acts, and I grapple with the idea of whether you can call people evil.
Ron Rosenbaum on Hitler, Hollywood, and Quantifying Evil | William O’Connor | July 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe slice of society he depicts is narrow, but its denizens grapple with the universal basics: family, mortality, love, ambition.
For the fourth year running, the ICA has had to grapple with the complexities of coordinating a group show.
We are of course in a peculiarly difficult position to grapple with this problem through lack of contemporary evidence.
The Religion of Ancient Rome | Cyril BaileyAt the moment he felt as if he could grapple the brute in bare hands and come off victor; and if otherwise—what matter?
God Wills It! | William Stearns DavisA year before, their third cable had broken in mid-ocean, and it was now proposed to "grapple" for it.
St. Nicholas, Vol. 5, No. 5, March, 1878 | VariousWe hope it will go on and agreeably grapple with the people in its own district whatever may become of the Jews.
Our Churches and Chapels | AtticusGilliatt was sufficiently familiar with marine rocks to grapple in earnest with the Douvres.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor Hugo
British Dictionary definitions for grapple
/ (ˈɡræpəl) /
to come to grips with (one or more persons), esp to struggle in hand-to-hand combat
(intr foll by with) to cope or contend: to grapple with a financial problem
(tr) to secure with a grapple
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
a grip or hold
a contest of grappling, esp a wrestling match
Origin of grapple
1Derived forms of grapple
- grappler, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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