How to Use death grip in a Sentence

death grip

noun
  • He drove straight through the storm, never loosening his death grip on the steering wheel.
  • As in give it up, let go, release the death grip.
    — Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Oct. 2025
  • The kid still had his hands sealed in a death grip on the handles.
    — Jeff Johnson, Outside Online, 11 July 2018
  • Smash the party’s death grip on the court and vote for Wendy Li.
    — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 25 June 2024
  • Saldivar screwed her eye into the scope and put a death grip on the rifle.
    — Bryan Hendricks, Arkansas Online, 4 Dec. 2022
  • Fatu had Reigns in the Tongan death grip toward the end of the match.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 10 May 2026
  • Being a buy-and-hold investor doesn’t obligate you to use a death grip.
    — Jason Zweig, WSJ, 8 July 2022
  • Scientists call it the zombie ant death grip and say its 100% real.
    — Morgan Hines, USA TODAY, 22 July 2019
  • Even to me, a fan of Brutalism, Breuer’s Whitney could feel like a death grip.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 1 Apr. 2021
  • Detachment creates attachment The death grip on your goals is what's killing them.
    — Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Not the Arctic death grip choking the country the past week or so, but the temperature of the wine in our glass.
    — Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2021
  • And Arab regimes have not, in fact, established a death grip on public mobilization.
    — Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2024
  • Walden’s touchy-feely ideology is enforced with a death grip throughout the curriculum.
    — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 31 May 2022
  • Some people believe that boomers and other older generations have a death grip on the world’s wealth and will never hand it over.
    — New York Times, 3 Aug. 2021
  • Since only the votes of white citizens counted, our tiny nation was ruled by a racial minority with a death grip on power.
    — Alexandra Fuller, Travel + Leisure, 21 Aug. 2020
  • Haku was known for using the Tongan death grip, which is a fabled wrestling move that sees the attacker grip their opponent’s throat.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2026
  • And because neither did enough to fall out of favor or put a death grip on the role, Sarkisian will play both against Arkansas.
    — Nick Moyle, San Antonio Express-News, 10 Sep. 2021
  • After a gutwrenching, life-and-death struggle, the tiger appears to grow too tired to maintain its death grip on the bear, which is pinned down and howling in distress.
    — Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 26 Nov. 2020
  • Cordyceps essentially turns its host into a zombie slave, compelling the ant to climb to the top of the nearest plant and clamp its tiny jaws in a death grip around a leaf or twig.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 17 July 2019
  • The Cardinals have won 13 of 14 games to put a death grip on the second wild-card berth in the NL.
    — Tom Haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 22 Sep. 2021
  • On the second play date — yes, there should be a second play date — your kid might say a few things to the other child but still, periodically, have a death grip on your leg.
    — Melinda Wenner Moyer, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2020
  • The snow and the low temperatures put Florida’s citrus and vegetable industry in a death grip.
    — Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 22 Jan. 2025
  • Maybe our death grip on our phones, which now occupy five hours of every day, isn’t a personal failing—lack of willpower, rudeness, narcissism.
    — Nitasha Tiku, WIRED, 18 Apr. 2018
  • Control groups were infected with a separate fungus, Beauvaria bassiana, which also kills ants, but does not induce a death grip.
    — Jennifer Walter, Discover Magazine, 18 July 2019
  • The patented shooting yoke holds your rifle in a, well, death grip to give you repeatable shots and hands-free positioning in any shooting condition.
    — T. Logan Metesh, Field & Stream, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Nostalgia has a death grip on the video game industry, so there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Campaign Evolved.
    — Alyssa Mercante, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2025
  • And since the mere mention of an educational vacation will probably send your darlings screaming from the room with a death grip on their smart phones, what’s a parent to do?
    — Juliet Izon, Good Housekeeping, 30 July 2018
  • For a nascent company, launching a new product was pricey and difficult, as legacy brands held onto their shelf space with a death grip and retailers were reluctant to take a chance.
    — Amelia Lucas,melissa Repko, CNBC, 7 June 2026
  • Instead, the fungus, known as Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, mangles the ant’s jaws, causing the signature death grip that seals their fates.
    — Jennifer Walter, Discover Magazine, 18 July 2019
  • Infection of the peripheral nerves has reduced the length of the tendons and a concurrent loss of muscle strength has resulted in the tense, death grip seen in the last picture below.
    — Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 9 Dec. 2011

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'death grip.' 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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