Word.ws English Dictionary

grab at straws

grab at straws is the alternative form of grasp at straws.

Meaning of grasp at straws

Verb

grasp at straws (third-person singular simple present grasps at straws, present participle grasping at straws, simple past and past participle grasped at straws)

  1. (idiomatic) To guess randomly or pursue any apparent option, due to a lack of clear choices or information.
    • I've never met his mother, so I'm grasping at straws for an appropriate gift for her.
  2. (idiomatic) To obtain any form of help, even if it is insignificant.

Forms of grab at straws

third-person singular presentgrabs at straws
present participlegrabbing at straws
past participlegrabbed at straws
pastgrabbed at straws

Questions about grab at straws

What is grab at straws the alternative form of?
Grab at straws is the alternative form of grasp at straws.

Words near grab at straws in the dictionary

  1. grab and run
  2. grab and runs
  3. grab ass
  4. grab at
  5. grab at a straw
  6. grab at straws
  7. grab bag
  8. grab bags
  9. grab box
  10. grab boxes
  11. grab bucket

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grab at straws (page history and authors); grasp at straws (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “grab at straws.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/grab_at_straws. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.