: taking a powerful hold upon one's interest or feelings
a gripping thriller
Shabba Ranks has a gripping baritone voice that ranges from bedroom purr to locker-room-boast roar.—
Mark Coleman
Mark Coleman
grippingly
adverb
a grippingly honest performance
Examples of gripping in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The bestselling author is back with another gripping historical romance, An Infinite Love Story, due out next year from Berkley.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 21 Nov. 2025
Its most gripping, least typical chapter describes an outbreak in breathlessly suspenseful detail, tracking the contagion from Alexandria, where a shipworker has a fateful encounter with a monkey’s fleas, all the way to England and, eventually, the Shakespeares’ doorstep.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2025
The nearly 90-minute film is a gripping story of what can happen when a community comes together.
—Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 20 Nov. 2025
Sandler, who won the organization’s Movies for Grownups Award for Best Actor in 2020 for his gripping performance in Uncut Gems, is generating awards buzz for his performance in Jay Kelly as movie star Kelly’s (George Clooney) devoted manager Ron Sukenick.
—Frank Digiacomo, Billboard, 4 Nov. 2025
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Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 21 Nov. 2025
Its most gripping, least typical chapter describes an outbreak in breathlessly suspenseful detail, tracking the contagion from Alexandria, where a shipworker has a fateful encounter with a monkey’s fleas, all the way to England and, eventually, the Shakespeares’ doorstep.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2025
The nearly 90-minute film is a gripping story of what can happen when a community comes together.
—Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 20 Nov. 2025
Sandler, who won the organization’s Movies for Grownups Award for Best Actor in 2020 for his gripping performance in Uncut Gems, is generating awards buzz for his performance in Jay Kelly as movie star Kelly’s (George Clooney) devoted manager Ron Sukenick.
—Frank Digiacomo, Billboard, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gripping
Cite this Entry
“Gripping.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gripping. Accessed 25 Nov. 2025.
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