definitions
  • synonyms

grasp

[ grasp, grahsp ]
/ græsp, grɑsp /
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grasp ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

to make an attempt to seize, or a motion of seizing, something (usually followed by at or for): a drowning man grasping at straws; to grasp for an enemy's rifle.

noun

RELATED WORDS

unimaginable, unintelligible, puzzling, impenetrable, opaque, unfathomable, baffling, mystifying, inconceivable, imperceptible, microscopic, unseen, indecipherable, inexplicable, incomprehensible, unknowable, illegible, meaningless, vague, unaccountable

Nearby words

graptolite, graptolitic, grapy, gras, grasmere, grasp, grasp (clutch) at straws, grasp at straws, grasp reflex, grasping, graspingly

Origin of grasp

1350–1400; Middle English graspen, grapsen; cognate with Low German grapsen; akin to Old English gegræppian to seize (see grapple)
SYNONYMS FOR grasp
1 grip, clutch; grab.
9 clutches.
10 scope, comprehension.
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grasp ON THESAURUS.COM
Related forms

Synonym study

1. See catch. 10. Grasp, reach refer to the power of seizing, either concretely or figuratively. Grasp suggests actually seizing and closing the hand upon something (or, figuratively, thoroughly comprehending something) and therefore refers to what is within one's possession or immediate possibility of possession: a good grasp of a problem; immense mental grasp. Reach suggests a stretching out of (usually) the hand to touch, strike, or, if possible, seize something; it therefore refers to a potentiality of possession that requires an effort. Figuratively, it implies perhaps a faint conception of something still too far beyond one to be definitely and clearly understood.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ungraspable

British Dictionary definitions for ungraspable

grasp

/ (ɡrɑːsp) /

verb

noun

Derived Formsgraspable, adjectivegrasper, noun

Word Origin for grasp

C14: from Low German grapsen; related to Old English græppian to seize, Old Norse grāpa to steal
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

Word Origin and History for ungraspable

grasp

v.

mid-14c., "to reach for, feel around," possibly a metathesis of grapsen, from Old English *græpsan "to touch, feel," from Proto-Germanic *grap-, *grab- (cf. East Frisian grapsen "to grasp," Middle Dutch grapen "to seize, grasp," Old English grapian "to touch, feel, grope"), from PIE root *ghrebh- (see grab). Sense of "seize" first recorded mid-16c. Figurative use from c.1600; of intellectual matters from 1680s. Related: Grasped; grasping. The noun is from 1560s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with ungraspable

grasp

In addition to the idiom beginning with grasp

  • grasp at straws

also see:

  • get a fix on (grasp of)
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.