Synonyms of grasping

grasping 1 of 2

adjective

ˈgra-spiŋ 

as in greedy

having or marked by an eager and often selfish desire especially for material possessions

a grasping person who would rather buy a car he didn't need than give a dime to charity

Synonyms & Similar Words

• greedy
• eager
• mercenary
• covetous
• acquisitive
• avaricious
• avid
• coveting
• desirous
• moneygrubbing
• grabby
• rapacious
• materialistic
• devouring
• miserly
• ravenous
• insatiable
• discontented
• egocentric
• swinish
• grudging
• hoggish
• piggy
• gobbling
• piggish
• unquenchable
• lickerish
• unsatisfied
• gluttonous
• resentful
• commercialistic
• begrudging
• discontent
• itchy
• voracious
• egotistic
• egoistic
• self-centered
• malcontent
• self-seeking
• philistine

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• generous
• liberal
• charitable
• controlled
• altruistic
• magnanimous
• unselfish
• selfless
• bountiful
• handsome
• bounteous
• restrained
• moderate
• munificent
• unsparing
• content
• openhanded
• temperate
• satisfied
• nonmaterialistic
• openhearted
• freehanded
• sated
• greathearted

grasping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of grasp

1

as in understanding

to have a practical understanding of

he just doesn't grasp how important it is that he call when he'll be late

Synonyms & Similar Words

• understanding
• knowing
• comprehending
• appreciating
• possessing
• fathoming
• apprehending
• perceiving
• cognizing
• following
• having
• savvying
• kenning
• catching on (to)
• picking up

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• misunderstanding
• misinterpreting
• misperceiving
• misconceiving
• misapprehending
• misknowing

2

as in clasping

to put one's arms around and press tightly

the departing soldier grasped his children a little closer than usual

Synonyms & Similar Words

• clasping
• hugging
• clinging
• cradling
• grabbing
• embracing
• holding
• enfolding
• wrapping
• crushing
• straining
• bear-hugging
• enclasping
• gripping
• clamping
• encircling
• patting
• folding
• locking
• enveloping
• snuggling
• stroking
• twining
• entwining
• fondling
• cuddling
• nuzzling
• petting
• bosoming
• embosoming
• nestling
• enwinding

3

as in holding

to reach for and take hold of by embracing with the fingers or arms

the attendant grasped my arm and steered me towards the door

Synonyms & Similar Words

• holding
• gripping
• taking
• clasping
• clutching
• clenching
• hanging on to
• catching
• laying hold of
• seizing
• snatching
• holding on (to)
• clinging (to)
• nabbing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• discharging
• releasing
• freeing
• liberating
• dropping
• giving
• passing
• relinquishing
• transmitting
• delivering
• transferring
• handing
• entrusting
• turning over
• handing over
• unhanding

4

as in knowing

to have a clear idea of

the emergency operator finally grasped what he was trying to tell her

Synonyms & Similar Words

• understanding
• knowing
• deciphering
• comprehending
• recognizing
• seeing
• appreciating
• realizing
• getting
• sensing
• perceiving
• discerning
• seizing
• apprehending
• conceiving
• assimilating
• digging
• cognizing
• making
• intuiting
• beholding
• decoding
• catching
• registering
• grokking
• twigging
• compassing
• tumbling (to)
• catching on (to)
• making out
• savvying
• fathoming
• digesting
• absorbing
• picking up on
• cottoning (to or on to)
• penetrating
• taking in
• piercing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• missing
• misinterpreting
• misunderstanding
• misreading
• mistaking
• misconstruing
• misperceiving
• misconceiving
• misapprehending

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective grasping differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of grasping are acquisitive, avaricious, covetous, and greedy. While all these words mean "having or showing a strong desire for especially material possessions," grasping adds to covetous and greedy an implication of selfishness and often suggests unfair or ruthless means.

a hard grasping businesswoman who cheated her associates

When is it sensible to use acquisitive instead of grasping?

The synonyms acquisitive and grasping are sometimes interchangeable, but acquisitive implies both eagerness to possess and ability to acquire and keep.

an eagerly acquisitive mind

When could avaricious be used to replace grasping?

In some situations, the words avaricious and grasping are roughly equivalent. However, avaricious implies obsessive acquisitiveness especially of money and strongly suggests stinginess.

an avaricious miser

When might covetous be a better fit than grasping?

The words covetous and grasping are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, covetous implies inordinate desire often for another's possessions.

covetous of his brother's country estate

Where would greedy be a reasonable alternative to grasping?

The meanings of greedy and grasping largely overlap; however, greedy stresses lack of restraint and often of discrimination in desire.

greedy for status symbols

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of grasping

Adjective

Apes, on the other hand, have much flatter, more grasping feet, indicating that they’re better suited for climbing than for repetitive ground contact. —Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2026

My hope is tenuous, grasping; scar tissue from 108 years of futility is never fully salved. —Stephen J. Nesbitt, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026

In this war lawyers invariably are depicted as soulless and grasping ambulance-chasers unconcerned about their clients’ welfare, and businesses as, well, soulless, grasping and unconcerned about their customers. —Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026

The grasping big toe also suggested this human relative spent more time in the trees. —CBS News, 26 Nov. 2025

The father, Fyodor Karamazov, is a grasping, lecherous, deceitful, and shameless widower. —Karl Ove Knausgaard, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2025

The imperial Presidency: Designs on Greenland, promises to take back the Panama Canal, threats of tariffs on countries ranging from Colombia to Taiwan—how did a President who once pledged isolationism become so grasping? —Ian Crouch, The New Yorker, 28 Jan. 2025

Multiplied across numerous markets in every state, the LIHTC fuels more and more grasping for cash instead of reductions to make housing easier to create. —Roger Valdez, Forbes, 6 Nov. 2024

Verb

The tip works best for grasping thick hairs that might crop up at the chin (IYKYK) and will successfully pull them out without much irritation or redness. —Alanna Martine Kilkeary, Glamour, 10 June 2026

Humanoid robots struggling with tasks like grasping a cup have a new teacher — a person wearing an ultrasound wristband that captures the movement of muscles, tendons and ligaments beneath the skin. —ABC News, 9 June 2026

But instead of Oasis wearing parka jackets and strumming guitars on Wembley Stadium’s stage, this was one of the world’s greatest athletes, in bright pink sneakers, grasping her tennis racket. —Ben Church, CNN Money, 9 June 2026

McAfee, not fully grasping why people would want to drink milk that was unpasteurized, nonetheless went to his silo, filled half-gallon containers and packed them in ice chests. —Annie Waldman, ProPublica, 9 June 2026

In the bottom of the 10th with two on and two out, grasping an 11-9 lead, Georgia reliever Justin Byrd toed the rubber ahead in the count 1-2 to Mississippi State’s Jacob Parker. —Hunter Delauder, AJC.com, 8 June 2026

It is built with tools for mapping, navigation, self-charging and VLM grasping demos. —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 6 June 2026

The Savages’ social standing has dwindled to the point that only their equally horrible, grasping neighbors, the Bennetts (Richard McCabe and Vicki Pepperdine, both very funny), will fraternize with them. —Guy Lodge, Variety, 4 June 2026

By integrating navigation, approach planning, grasping, and manipulation into a unified action framework, PUDU D7 eliminates the traditional separation between movement and operation, enabling more efficient execution of complex, multi-step tasks. —Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 2 June 2026