1
as in hugging
to put one's arms around and press tightly
clasped his long-lost sister and cried without restraint
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in holding
to reach for and take hold of by embracing with the fingers or arms
clasped a crayon and began drawing
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of clasping
The june bug falls to the bottom of the bag but manages to recover from a new round of kicking by clasping to a leaf.
—
María Ospina, The Dial, 31 Mar. 2026
Others showed baby Spero clasping his tiny hand around Graham's finger and slumbering with a smile on his face.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Mar. 2026
Back at the gathering, there were Martha’s groans and Gretchen’s anger, and there was Mike, clasping his chest—a heart attack?
—Yiyun Li, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
Olympic nails have been seen clasping medals on more than one occasion.
—Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 20 Feb. 2026
Then the beetle seeks out an ant — climbing on top of it, clasping its antennae in its jaws and scooping up its pheromones with brush-like legs.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2026
To keep the jewelry clean, Glasser covered them in bubblegum wrappers, removing them before clasping the dress in place.
—Sophia Panych, Allure, 3 Feb. 2026
Grejo snapped his fingers for the cigarettes to be passed and lit one, but after a single long drag, Adi noticed, never smoked it again, instead clasping it between his fingers like a personal incense stick.
—Jonathan Miles, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
After the speakers concluded, the crowd lingered, hugging and clasping hands before police announced the parking lot would be closed.
—Uwa Ede-Osifo, Dallas Morning News, 11 Jan. 2026
María Ospina, The Dial, 31 Mar. 2026
Others showed baby Spero clasping his tiny hand around Graham's finger and slumbering with a smile on his face.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Mar. 2026
Back at the gathering, there were Martha’s groans and Gretchen’s anger, and there was Mike, clasping his chest—a heart attack?
—Yiyun Li, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
Olympic nails have been seen clasping medals on more than one occasion.
—Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 20 Feb. 2026
Then the beetle seeks out an ant — climbing on top of it, clasping its antennae in its jaws and scooping up its pheromones with brush-like legs.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2026
To keep the jewelry clean, Glasser covered them in bubblegum wrappers, removing them before clasping the dress in place.
—Sophia Panych, Allure, 3 Feb. 2026
Grejo snapped his fingers for the cigarettes to be passed and lit one, but after a single long drag, Adi noticed, never smoked it again, instead clasping it between his fingers like a personal incense stick.
—Jonathan Miles, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
After the speakers concluded, the crowd lingered, hugging and clasping hands before police announced the parking lot would be closed.
—Uwa Ede-Osifo, Dallas Morning News, 11 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clasping
Verb
-
Photos originally published by the New York Post’s Page Six showed the coach and journalist holding hands, hugging and sitting in a pool in bathing suits at a resort bungalow in Sedona, Arizona.—
Ryan Canfield,
FOXNews.com,
9 Apr. 2026
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But that big gap in the middle—and the fact that many ships are hugging the northern shoreline—shows that captains were not eager to test the open-sea route without Tehran's approval.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Simply holding the mandolin had transported me back fifty years.—
Tim Parks,
New Yorker,
11 Apr. 2026
-
Min Aung Hlaing, who had attained the rank of senior general, last week relinquished his post of commander-in-chief because the constitution prohibits the president from simultaneously holding the top military position.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Faster grasping smarter robots The team tested HEAPGrasp on a real robotic setup across 20 scenarios involving different combinations of transparent, opaque, and reflective objects.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Mar. 2026
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For a human, grasping the pattern typically takes seconds.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Nutsedges have nut-like tubers clinging to them.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
11 Apr. 2026
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Imagine the ribs are a bottle and the mucus is the ketchup desperately clinging to its sides, Welsh says.—
Courtney Crowder,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Anthony, who went 2 for 5 with two runs scored in the loss, said there isn’t an injury impacting his throwing, and Cora and Anthony chalked up it more to a mechanical issue gripping the baseball than anything else.—
Greg Dudek,
Boston Herald,
7 Apr. 2026
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Economic pressures are gripping Americans across the country, but Maryland stands out as a uniquely unaffordable state — in large part due to a complete lack of executive commitment to keep the state affordable and economically prosperous.—
Torrey Snow,
Baltimore Sun,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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So far, he's picked up and dropped off about ten people, taking them to anything from doctor's appointments to haircuts.—
Carmela Karcher,
CBS News,
8 Apr. 2026
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Rhyne did not advocate for taking money from the state’s $625 million school voucher program to fund public schools.—
Rebecca Noel,
Charlotte Observer,
8 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Clasping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clasping. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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