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1. Understanding with difficulty
   "the lecture was beyond his most strenuous graspings"
    
2. The act of gripping something firmly with the hands (or the tentacles)
   - taking hold, seizing, prehension

1. Immoderately desirous of acquiring e.g. wealth
   "a grasping old miser"; "grasping commercialism"
   - avaricious, covetous, grabby [N. Amer], greedy, prehensile

1. Hold firmly
   - hold on
    
2. Get the meaning of something
   "Do you grasp the meaning of this letter?"
   - grok [N. Amer], get the picture, comprehend, savvy, dig, compass, apprehend

Derived forms: graspings

See also: acquisitive

Type of: apprehension, control, discernment, hold, savvy, take hold, understand, understanding

Encyclopedia: Grasp