grasp
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English graspen, grapsen, craspen (“to grope; feel around”), from Old English *grǣpsian, from Proto-West Germanic *graipisōn, from Proto-Germanic *graipisōną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to take, seize, rake”), the same ultimate source as grab.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian grapsje (“to grab, grasp”), German Low German grapsen (“to grab; grasp”), German grapsen and grapschen, Old English grāpian ("to touch, feel, grasp"; > Modern English grope). Compare also Swedish krafsa (“to scatch; scabble”), Norwegian krafse (“to scramble”).
Inflected forms:
form: grasps
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: grasping
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: grasp
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: grasp
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: grasp
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: graspest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: graspedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: grasps
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: graspeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: grasp
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: grasp
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: grasp
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: grasping
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: grasped
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: graps
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: grasps
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: graps
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To grip; to take hold, particularly with the hand.
pos: verb
examples: How few! yet how they creep / Through my fingers to the deep, / While I weep—while I weep! / O God! can I not grasp / Them with a tighter clasp?
gloss: To understand.
pos: verb
examples: I have never been able to grasp the concept of infinity.
gloss: To take advantage of something, to seize, to jump at a chance.
pos: verb
gloss: Grip.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
sometimes
examples: A vagrant gust of wind snatched the note from my grasp.
in the tyrant's grasp
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
If a mirror does slip from your grasp, do not attempt to catch it. Just get out of the way.
gloss: Understanding.
pos: noun
examples: There is for the mind but one grasp of happiness: from that uppermost pinnacle of wisdom, whence we see that this world is well designed.
gloss: That which is accessible; that which is within one's reach or ability.
pos: noun
examples: The goal is within my grasp.
Synonyms: grip
hold tight
beclasp
begrasp
begrip
belock
clench
clinch
cling
clutch
enclasp
fang
fondle
glaum
grab
grabble
grasp
hang on
hold on
hold
nab
nim
seize
stranglehold
take
Antonyms: let go
release
Related words: grab
grapple
grave
groove
grovel
capture
Derived words: a drowning man will grasp at a straw
a drowning man will grasp at straws
begrasp
engrasp
foregrasp
graspability
graspable
grasp at a straw
grasp at straws
grasper
grasp for straws
grasp the nettle
ungrasp
misgrasp
regrasp
beyond someone's grasp
graspful
graspless
handgrasp
light grasp
tripod grasp
Translations: