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# grasp

«grasp» in Mova's school dictionary: **To take and hold something tightly: She grasped the rope** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (grasp, grasps, grasped, grasping); noun (a grasp — usually singular)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (verb) To take and hold something tightly: She grasped the rope. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#m1)

2) (verb) To understand something, especially something hard: He quickly grasped the idea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#m2)

3) (noun) A firm hold: Keep a tight grasp on the rail. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#m3)

4) (noun) Understanding: a good grasp of maths. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#m4)

5) (noun) Reach; how close something is to being got: Victory was within our grasp. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In school a teacher checks pupils have a «good grasp» of fractions; in safety lessons you grasp the handrail on stairs; in stories something is «within grasp» or «out of grasp». Phrases: «grasp the idea», «a good grasp of», «within your grasp», «grasp at straws».

### examples

- Grasp the handrail as you go down the stairs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#x1)
- The baby grasped my finger. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#x2)
- It took me a while to grasp long division. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#x3)
- She has a good grasp of French. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#x4)
- The ball slipped from his grasp. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#x5)
- Winning the cup was within our grasp. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#x6)
- "Stay, foolish youth," said Medea, grasping his arm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/#x7)

### note

Regular verb. Grasp (understand) is a little formal; casual words are «get» or «get the hang of». «Grasping» as an adjective means greedy.

### In the corpora

- [Try and grasp the fact that on this occasion we're not arguing with you; we're just telling you.»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/72-willows-ch12-part3-no-speeches-and-no-songs/33/)
- [O my God, rescue me out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1175/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «grasp» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grasp/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.