Meaning

(transitive) To seize something and hold it firmly..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To seize something and hold it firmly.
2. (intransitive) To wrestle or tussle.
3. (figuratively, with with) To ponder and intensely evaluate a problem; to struggle to deal with.
4. A close hand-to-hand struggle.
5. The act of grappling. (uncountable)
6. A tool with claws or hooks which is used to catch or hold something.
7. (transitive) To fasten, as with a grapple; (by extension) to fix; to join indissolubly.
8. (transitive, intransitive) To climb (whether by means of a grapple and rope, or by hand, etc).

Example Sentences

to grapple with one's conscience

Class 4 2-6-4T No. 42098 grapples with the 1 in 63 to Troutbeck at the head of the "Lakes Express".

Fear of death is a universal human concern with which all thinking people at some point grapple.

The frictionless appearance of a box on the doorstep is such a seductive notion. We have come to rely on it in such a brief period that we have not been able to grapple fully with the scale or the meaning of home delivery.

Morgan recoiled, ready to fend off another attack, but the rope grappled him back against the fence.

The gallies were grapled to the Centurion.

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.

[…] he provided himself with thieves' tackle and repaired to the house of the vizier in question, where he grappled a rope ladder with grappling irons to the battlements and climbed up to the roof of the palace .

Word Forms

• grapples
• grappling
• grappled
• graple

Synonyms for grapple

Related Words

When Should You Use Grapple?

Use grapple when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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