How to Use grasp for in a Sentence

grasp for

verb
  • Barring that, world leaders are grasping for ways to free up more oil.
    — Cathy Bussewitz, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Our parent tester liked that the handles were sturdy and easy to grasp for her baby.
    — Pamela Brill, Parents, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Thirteen out of 20 losses have been within grasp for the Nuggets in the last five minutes.
    — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 10 Feb. 2026
  • This sense of grasping for more, reaching out to something just out of range or possibly not even there, is central to the movie.
    — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2026
  • This sense of grasping for more, reaching out to something just out of range or possibly not even there, is central to the movie.
    — Mark Olsen, Boston Herald, 23 Jan. 2026
  • The sport's scoring system is notably distinct, and can sometimes be hard to grasp for newcomers.
    — Ayana Archie, NPR, 4 June 2026
  • Instead of confidently pitching the idea, Lawrén froze — grasping for something, anything, to say.
    — Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 14 Apr. 2026
  • As for today, the Mountain West is grasping for both versions of itself—the polished, and the raw; the exclusive, and the open-armed.
    — Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Proponents grasp for reasons to still believe in its possible realization.
    — Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
  • The underwater clues that researchers are grasping for in this effort are invisible, almost ephemeral, but hold promise just the same.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
  • It's all told from the vantage point of a woman trying to make sense of her life in the face of devastation, sometimes grasping for signs that only hindsight can uncover.
    — Kathryn Palmer, USA Today, 18 Feb. 2026
  • Its fractured, scattered form, grasping for structure instead of pretending to master it, is an attempt to build a future that will include both author and reader.
    — Robert Rubsam, The Atlantic, 1 Jan. 2026
  • The grasping for straws was all for naught, though, because Zendaya actually does eventually agree to be in Mimi’s video.
    — Katie Campione, Deadline, 9 Nov. 2025
  • The scratches, mild but visible, are from the ravenous audience who pushes toward her night after night — grasping for a hug, a high-five, a brush of her fingers or the hem of her sleeve.
    — Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 7 May 2026
  • Christie and Michael McIntire were grasping for anything in the San Gabriel Valley and coming up short.
    — Los Angeles Times, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Cicero has been my nemesis in this book, for unconscionably grasping for elder power and offering up rationales for doing so repeated over the centuries.
    — Literary Hub, 18 June 2026
  • Soon, a cycle of blackmail, extortion and fraud ensues, borne of desperate grasping for power and a potentially fatal lack of empathy on all fronts.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026
  • That’d be Tonya Pinkins, who played Kate in the original and returns here as Dolores Montoya, a star who is grasping for her comeback.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2026
  • The response to Kirk’s death is playing out in a fractured media environment where people across the political spectrum have grasped for explanations.
    — David Ingram, NBC news, 12 Sep. 2025
  • His acknowledgment comes as lawmakers are grasping for what accountability looks like amid the revelations contained in what’s known as the Epstein files.
    — Stephen Groves, Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2026
  • His acknowledgement comes as lawmakers are grasping for what accountability looks like amid the revelations contained in what’s known as the Epstein files.
    — Stephen Groves, Fortune, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Entertainment giants are truly grasping for any hint of intellectual property this days — including by plumbing the depths of random playground games.
    — Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 18 June 2026
  • Hallucinations by large language models are a result of their training, when they are rewarded for grasping for an answer instead of admitting uncertainty.
    — Parmy Olson, Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2026
  • Evans is a marquee addition at split end to Kyle Shanahan’s offense, which features several others stars grasping for perhaps one last Super Bowl run.
    — Cam Inman, Mercury News, 9 Mar. 2026
  • North Hollywood and Grant are gunning for the East Valley League championship, a title the Lancers have grasped for four straight years with just one league loss in that span.
    — Justin Vigil Zuniga, Daily News, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Devastated families are grasping for answers after the birthday party mass shooting in Stockton on Saturday night that left four people dead, including three children.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 1 Dec. 2025
  • People were at home and grasping for new entertainment, which led to the 2020 virtual 1CLT Festival.
    — Zach Dennis, Charlotte Observer, 14 Aug. 2025
  • In New Hampshire, middle schoolers use generative tools to strip the clothes off their classmates in digital photographs, leaving the community grasping for a policy response.
    — Eric Sullivan, Scientific American, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Lack of information A chief concern among Democratic lawmakers is that the White House has kept Congress — and the public — in the dark and grasping for details about recent military actions.
    — Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
  • And some Americans—particularly younger generations—have been desperate to break into the housing market, grasping for long-term financial stability and the same security their parents and grandparents earned by buying a home.
    — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 9 Dec. 2025

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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