Sample Sentences for
grapple
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

grapple as in: grappled mentally

•
On the plane ride home that day, I made a small list on a yellow legal pad, issues and questions that we all grapple with, from happiness to aging to having children to death.  (source)
grapple = struggle
Show 1 more with this contextual meaning
•
I squirmed, wanting to show I had been grappling deeply with such questions.  (source)
grappling = struggling
▲ show less (of above)

grapple as in:  grappled hand-to-hand

•
I've just begun to grapple with the problem.
grapple = struggle
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Forgetting that they were already invisible, they shrank into the shadows, staring at the dark outlines of two people grappling with each other ten feet away.  (source)
    grappling = engaging in a physical struggle
  • •
    We bumped into each other and grappled.  (source)
    grappled = struggled with each other
  • •
    He was able to reach out and grapple for his son's free hand.†  (source)
▲ show less (of above)
Show 10 more with 6 word variations
  • •
    The grappling hook hit the tower twice as it bounced back down to the ground.†  (source)
  • •
    Adam grappled with the door handle, turned it.†  (source)
  • •
    I used the last of my strength to grapple him as his momentum carried us both over the railing.†  (source)
  • •
    President Kennedy is quick to commend Carpenter for his courage and skill, even as he grapples with Congress over the issue of affordable nationwide health care.†  (source)
  • •
    Not till the first week of August, when he came home from the Cape, just made into the Grappler.†  (source)
  • •
    Giggles, gasps, grapplings—there was no disguising the indelicate nature of the sound, although in his kindheartedness the young man at first tried hard to give it a harmless interpretation.†  (source)
  • •
    Xandra was leaning sideways, stumbling a bit in her high shoes and grappling for her key.†  (source)
  • •
    In an instant, the two battle-hardened Civil War veterans grappled in a death struggle.†  (source)
  • •
    She at least is something he can grapple with, take hold of.†  (source)
  • •
    One grapples this land at first closer to one's self than it's worth.†  (source)
▲ show less (of above)

grapple as in:  grappling hooks

•
The next instant he was grappling with Buck on the extreme edge, while Hans and Pete were dragging them back into safety.  (source)
grappling = holding and pulling
Show 2 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    In quick rage he sprang at the man, who met him halfway, grappled him close by the throat, and with a deft twist threw him over on his back.  (source)
    grappled = grabbed and held
  • •
    Now, if you have a station in the file, Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say it, And I will put that business in your bosoms, Whose execution takes your enemy off, Grapples you to the heart and love of us,  (source)
    Grapples = binds or holds
▲ show less (of above)