How to Use grasp for in a Sentence

grasp for

phrasal verb
  • And people have been grasping for the right term to describe that for a long time.
    Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 13 Sep. 2023
  • On the one hand, the words grasp for the precision required to keep up with the swiftly tilting present.
    Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2023
  • The agency is grasping for ways to improve the standard of living.
    Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2024
  • Many have bounced from one lodging to another, grasping for a place to stay put.
    Anumita Kaur, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Sep. 2023
  • Meanwhile, theater leaders are grasping for signs of hope, or at least faith.
    Michael Paulson, New York Times, 23 July 2023
  • Forgetfulness and even grasping for words are a common part of aging.
    Raya Rockwood, Dallas News, 14 July 2023
  • 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
  • In 1900, this type of crude grasp for the reader’s attention was called yellow journalism, what might be called clickbait today.
    David Reamer | Alaska History, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Aug. 2023
  • The cost of its oil has broken through a price cap imposed by the West, leaving the Biden administration grasping for strategies to stop sanctions evasion.
    Jonathan O'Connell, Washington Post, 14 Nov. 2023
  • The new charge left historians grasping for precedents.
    William K. Rashbaum, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2023
  • But a proliferation of festivals in the region has turned BBR from the only game in town to one of many events grasping for an ever-fractured market.
    Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 16 June 2024
  • The key to success wasn’t slowly working your way up, grasping for small opportunities.
    Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2024
  • Luke is grasping for help on what defines him now because work has only ever defined him and achieving has only ever defined him.
    TIME, 17 Oct. 2023
  • Officials at the city, state and federal level continue to grasp for solutions.
    Tim Balk, New York Daily News, 20 May 2024
  • Joke videos show people barreling into crowded stores to get their hands on the phone with the desperation of someone grasping for water after wandering in a desert.
    Meaghan Tobin, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023
  • At this point, your baby is going to be more interested in toys and pictures, constantly grasping for things that stimulate their vision.
    Emily Cook, Parents, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Victims grasp for answers In late June, more than 10 weeks after surviving the shooting by hiding in the bathroom, Schwartz met with detectives investigating the killings.
    Joshua Lott, Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2023
  • Els says various government agencies and private hostage negotiators got in touch, grasping for more clues about her husband's whereabouts -- but to no avail.
    Allie Weintraub, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2023
  • The war has left Russia grasping for certainties in an exceedingly uncertain world.
    Tatiana Stanovaya, Foreign Affairs, 8 Aug. 2023
  • Their bereaved parents are left grasping for an explanation.
    Caroline Mimbs Nyce, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2024
  • Leaders throughout the Middle East are grasping for responses that channel the public’s outrage while guarding their own interests.
    Hannah Allam, Washington Post, 25 Oct. 2023
  • That juxtaposition of triumph and death, all too familiar in a sport grasping for meaningful safety reforms, lingered for many who watched.
    Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 16 May 2024
  • By focusing on a law-and-order message while defending the right to free speech, Biden is grasping for a middle ground on an intensely divisive issue in the middle of his reelection campaign.
    Chris Megerian, Fortune, 2 May 2024
  • Instead, the war has left Russia grasping for certainties in an exceedingly uncertain world.
    Tatiana Stanovaya, Foreign Affairs, 8 Aug. 2023
  • The city had trudged through a tough budget year, pleaded with federal workers to come back to its empty office buildings and grasped for new ways to revitalize downtown as the commercial real estate market floundered.
    Meagan Flynn, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2023
  • But a recent spate of orca attacks on a different target—sailboats—has scientists grasping for explanations.
    Steven Hill, Field & Stream, 25 May 2023
  • Gemba, however, did not say who pulled the trigger, leaving the children’s grandmother, Diane Ellis grasping for information.
    Emily Sweeney, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2023
  • But really, though, this is Krieps’ show, another elegantly virtuosic, intelligent turn that, in this case, imbues sickness with dignity so that every strained grasp for breath feels like a victory for autonomy.
    Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023
  • In his recent speeches, Trump, too, was grasping for a larger context for his denunciations of migrants — though with none of Orban’s deftness, instead unspooling increasingly extravagant and explosive conspiracy theories.
    Charles Homans Robert Petkoff Anna Diamond Ted Blaisdell, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2024
  • The blockchain sector, by contrast, remains dominated by technical discussions that leave many potential participants grasping for clarification instead of just experiencing the tech.
    William Mougayar, Fortune Crypto, 9 June 2023

Some of 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.

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