grip
Americannoun
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grips
plural
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the act of grasping; a seizing and holding fast; firm grasp.
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the power of gripping.
He has a strong grip.
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a grasp, hold, or control.
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mental or intellectual hold.
to have a good grip on a problem.
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competence or firmness in dealing with situations in one's work or personal affairs.
The boss is old and is losing his grip.
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a special mode of clasping hands.
Members of the club use the secret grip.
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something that seizes and holds, as a clutching device on a cable car.
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a handle or hilt.
That knife has a very unusual grip.
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a sudden, sharp pain; spasm of pain.
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Older Use. a small traveling bag.
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Theater. a stagehand, especially one who works on the stage floor.
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Movies, Television. a general assistant available on a film set for shifting scenery, moving furniture, etc.
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verb (used with object)
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grips,
present (3rd person singular)
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gripped,
past participle, past
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gript,
past participle, past (Archaic)
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gripping
present participle
verb (used without object)
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grips,
present (3rd person singular)
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gripped,
past participle, past
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gript,
past participle, past (Archaic)
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gripping
present participle
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to take firm hold; hold fast.
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to take hold on the mind.
idioms
noun
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the act or an instance of grasping and holding firmly
he lost his grip on the slope
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Also called: handgrip. the strength or pressure of such a grasp, as in a handshake
a feeble grip
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the style or manner of grasping an object, such as a tennis racket
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understanding, control, or mastery of a subject, problem, etc (esp in such phrases as get or have a grip on )
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Also called: handgrip. a part by which an object is grasped; handle
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Also called: handgrip. a travelling bag or holdall
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See hairgrip
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any device that holds by friction, such as certain types of brake
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a method of clasping or shaking hands used by members of secret societies to greet or identify one another
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a spasm of pain
a grip in one's stomach
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a worker in a camera crew or a stagehand who shifts sets and props, etc
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a small drainage channel cut above an excavation to conduct surface water away from the excavation
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(often foll by with)
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to deal with (a problem or subject)
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to tackle (an assailant)
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verb
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to take hold of firmly or tightly, as by a clutch
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to hold the interest or attention of
to grip an audience
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gripsimple
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gripssimple
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have grippedperfect
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have griptperfect
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has grippedperfect
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has griptperfect
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am grippingprogressive
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are grippingprogressive
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is grippingprogressive
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have been grippingperfect progressive
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has been grippingperfect progressive
Past
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grippedsimple
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griptsimple
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had grippedperfect
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had griptperfect
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was grippingprogressive
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were grippingprogressive
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had been grippingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grip
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English gripe “grasp” (noun); cognate with German Griff, Old English gripa “handful”; see gripe
Explanation
To grip something is to hold it firmly. You might grip the TV remote to keep your roommate from trying to change the channel. When you want to hold on to something, you grip it. If your hands are strong and you can hold things well, you have a good grip. Grip is also the roughness or texture of something. A steering wheel has good grip if your hands don't slip while driving. This word can be also be used figuratively. If you’re upset, your friend might tell you to “get a grip” — that is, get a hold of yourself.
Vocabulary lists containing grip
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:
Both Cruise and Pitt have a death grip on their A-List prestige, hyper-aware of how much the world perceives and enjoys their work.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
Those modifications cause the histones to loosen their grip on DNA, opening up access for transcription factors that are needed to turn genes on.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
From spoofing hypersonic missiles to jamming drone signals, combat zones are in the grip of an electronic arms race.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Mahinda Rajapaksa served as president of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015 and for years, his family held a tight grip over the country's politics.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
She was barely conscious, and though she wasn’t heavy, he had to put her down often to shift her as his grip faltered.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
“He stole a motorcycle and rode it around. He almost knocked a bunch of grips and gaffers off their ladders,” André recalled in 2023.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Exporters are set to get an extra year to get to grips with incoming European Union methane emission rules, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said as companies struggle with high fuel costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
These receptors are molecular grips on immune cells that help them stick to blood vessels, enter tissues, and reach infections.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
They’re trying to come to grips with the new reality when they both fall into a sinkhole and wake up in Nakali.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Javier grips the side of the pod and tries to get up.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
The historic $110 billion Hollywood tie-up comes as a powerful selloff in long-dated Treasurys has gripped financial markets, pushing up benchmark yields to their highest levels since 2002.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
He gripped the controls and expected the engine to give out at any second, until he spotted a parking lot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
London's sold-out Bayeux Tapestry exhibition will open Thursday to a British public gripped by "mania" as the medieval artwork depicting the Norman conquest of England goes on display outside France for the first time.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
Now ebullient, now maudlin, Herzen can be suddenly, embarrassingly intimate—as when describing the torment of jealousy that gripped him upon learning of his wife’s brief affair with a German romantic poet, Georg Herwegh.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Finally, at the climax of a twelve-day manhunt that had gripped the nation, a heavily armed patrol of the Sixteenth New York Cavalry had cornered Lincoln’s assassin!
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
His words were oaks in acorns; and his thoughts Were roots that firmly gript the granite truth.
From Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two by Various
He leapt into the water, That rover young and bold; He gript Earl Haldan's daughter, He shore her locks of gold; 'Go weep, go weep, proud maiden, The tale is full to-day.
From Westward Ho!, or, the voyages and adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the county of Devon, in the reign of her most glorious majesty Queen Elizabeth by Charles Kingsley
And first gaed by the black black steed, And then gaed by the brown; 205 But fast she gript the milk-white steed, And pu'd the rider down.
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
The thumbs should be locked, the knees slightly bent, and the edge of the diving-board gript well with the toes.
From Swimming Scientifically Taught A Practical Manual for Young and Old by Frank Eugen Dalton
And he came half over the edge, and gript the Diskos by the handle, in an instant.
From The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson
Yet the deep selloff gripping the $31.5 trillion Treasury market isn’t putting the year’s biggest M&A deal in jeopardy.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
My Journal colleague Tim Higgins this weekend spelled out the moral conflict gripping the company, noting the money at stake and the race not only among companies but also among countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
If the drama is oversimplified, it nonetheless makes for a gripping spectacle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The key stories of a gripping race at Monza were:
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The branch I’m gripping for balance rustles and creaks.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
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.
