grasp for
phrasal verb
grasped for; grasping for; grasps for
: to try in a desperate or awkward way to get (something)
His sudden decision to quit the race has left his supporters grasping for explanations.
grasping for attention
Examples of grasp for in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But Oppenheimer is a prestige World War II biographical drama that made almost $1 billion at the box office, proving that there’s a market for adult movies in an era when the Oscars have desperately grasped for any chance at relevance with wider audiences.
—
David Sims, The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2024
Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.
—Evan Halper, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2024
The agency is grasping for ways to improve the standard of living.
—Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2024
The key to success wasn’t slowly working your way up, grasping for small opportunities.
—Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2024
Their bereaved parents are left grasping for an explanation.
—Caroline Mimbs Nyce, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2024
The Dueling Dinosaurs specimen — which was discovered by a team led by Clayton Phipps, the same fossil hunter who excavated Chomper — was out of researchers’ grasp for years, holed up in storage during a court battle over who owned it.
—Zachary Small, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2024
In Trump, Jack, 61, saw a fighter who spoke plainly about what was wrong with America without grasping for excuses in the fine print.
—Melina Mara, Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2023
After a 40-year-old Army Reservist named Robert Card went on a shooting spree in Lewiston, Maine, in October, his community grasped for answers.
—Dave Philipps, New York Times, 11 Dec. 2023
David Sims, The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2024
Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.
—Evan Halper, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2024
The agency is grasping for ways to improve the standard of living.
—Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2024
The key to success wasn’t slowly working your way up, grasping for small opportunities.
—Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2024
Their bereaved parents are left grasping for an explanation.
—Caroline Mimbs Nyce, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2024
The Dueling Dinosaurs specimen — which was discovered by a team led by Clayton Phipps, the same fossil hunter who excavated Chomper — was out of researchers’ grasp for years, holed up in storage during a court battle over who owned it.
—Zachary Small, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2024
In Trump, Jack, 61, saw a fighter who spoke plainly about what was wrong with America without grasping for excuses in the fine print.
—Melina Mara, Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2023
After a 40-year-old Army Reservist named Robert Card went on a shooting spree in Lewiston, Maine, in October, his community grasped for answers.
—Dave Philipps, New York Times, 11 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'grasp for.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near grasp for
Cite this Entry
“Grasp for.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grasp%20for. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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