How to Use grasp at in a Sentence

grasp at

verb
  • Harris appeared to be grasping at his leg.
    — James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Sep. 2025
  • So while Carolyn charges through life with confidence, John grasps at straws.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Rummler appears to be choking, grasping at the jacket around his neck as blood pours from his left eye.
    — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan. 2026
  • Her left hand is scrabbling over the surface of the thin soil, grasping at dead leaves, something to wipe herself.
    — Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2025
  • The art historian was grasping at straws.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Even the song choice reads like a grasp at relevance — that a pop song from a decade ago is the go-to choice versus, say, a karaoke classic.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026
  • Nosrat grasped at the invitation like a lifeline.
    — Dan Kois, New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2025
  • And above all, consider that there is no grasping at the puzzle pieces early in your leadership journey.
    — Jerry Colonna, Forbes.com, 6 Feb. 2026
  • This is a director who’s grasping at bigger ideals than many of his contemporaries would even attempt.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2026
  • A lot of what the project is doing is grasping at that weakness in connection and trying to reconstitute it in some way.
    — Danny Hajjar, Rolling Stone, 25 Mar. 2026
  • The smaller, figurative collages are somewhat easier to grasp at first glance.
    — Benjamin Lima special Contributor, Dallas Morning News, 7 Feb. 2026
  • Suzanna, despite her many unappealing qualities, is at least grasping at her ability to change.
    — Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Apr. 2026
  • In court, Mickey grasps at straws, trying to clear his name, and in jail, the usually calm, cool and collected attorney is struggling to stay sane.
    — Pamela Avila, USA Today, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Others find themselves in precarious situations and grasping at straws in hopes of improved fortunes.
    — Mike Jones, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
  • This makes boredom a potentially dangerous emotion, and sufferers may grasp at anything for relief.
    — Daniel Smith, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2026
  • Luna continues drifting through Pisces for most of the day, keeping us in our emotions, but reality could still be difficult to grasp at this time.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 12 May 2026
  • The unnamed father grasps at the faintest notions of hope to offer his son, but the bleak landscape and a pursuing faction of cannibals suggest a grimmer future.
    — Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
  • After stuffing the shot, which caromed to the Razorbacks' Nick Pringle, James fell to the floor writhing in pain and grasping at his back.
    — Tom Murphy, Arkansas Online, 21 Jan. 2026
  • This typically includes the candidate, who will often grasp at other explanations.
    — Jeremy Lott, The Washington Examiner, 3 Oct. 2025
  • And wrap it in a gorgeous (if somewhat twisted) album cover depicting a completely adorable baby underwater, grasping at a dollar bill on a fishhook?
    — Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The still schematic design shows a large-scale grid across its facades grasping at some form of architectural decorum while demonstrating the building’s unwieldly proportions.
    — Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 22 Feb. 2026
  • Still looking for their multi-million-dollar payday, the Cascios brought back Howard King and are grasping at straws through this frivolous filing.
    — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Caught between them is Florence Vassy (Lea Michele), a chess champ in her own right who proves clever and capable, but spends the show hopelessly grasping at agency.
    — Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 17 Nov. 2025
  • That defense was left grasping at air with its inability to tackle Reed, who ran for 108 yards and two touchdowns, along with 202 more yards and two more scores in the air.
    — Chris Vannini, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2025
  • The Weeknd grasps at casual indifference, at the tranquility of the Stoics, the impassivity of the unmoved man.
    — Literary Hub, 14 Jan. 2026
  • These highlights come closest to the kinds of sleepy pop hits Blake seems to have been grasping at since watching Clairo go 2x-platinum from her bedroom desktop webcam in 2017.
    — Donald Morrison, Pitchfork, 14 Apr. 2026
  • The federal government officially entered a shutdown at midnight on Wednesday after congressional leaders were unable to reach a deal on a stopgap spending bill, leaving lawmakers grasping at straws over how to break the impasse.
    — Al Weaver, The Hill, 1 Oct. 2025
  • However, that the film’s dramatic highlight is likely the young and electric newcomer Hearty Singh, who plays a younger Vikram in an extended flashback aimed at a last-minute grasp at class-centric themes, speaks to how lacking the central story, and its telling, truly are.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 14 Aug. 2025
  • After coming away with a dominant victory in Week 6 over the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers hold an incredibly firm grasp at the top of the AFC North.
    — Reice Shipley, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Love gave his burgeoning Heisman Trophy campaign a boost by finishing with 167 yards of total offense, the highlight coming on a 56-yard sprint to the end zone in the first quarter that included a spin move at midfield that left Pitt's Kavir Bains-Marquez grasping at air.
    — CBS News, 15 Nov. 2025

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