grasp at straws

grasp at straws verb: to guess randomly or pursue any apparent option, due to a lack of clear choices or information.

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)

(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.
Synonyms:

clutch at straws, clutch at a straw
(idiomatic) To obtain any form of help, even if it is insignificant.

Synonyms of grasp at straws

Forms of grasp at straws

third-person singular present	grasps at straws
present participle	grasping at straws
past participle	grasped at straws
past	grasped at straws
alternative form	grab at straws
alternative form	grab at a straw
alternative form	grasp at a straw

Origin of grasp at straws

In reference to a drowning person grabbing any floating object, even a straw, to save themselves. First used by Thomas More in A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation (1534).

Words formed from grasp at straws

Questions about grasp at straws

What does grasp at straws mean?: Grasp at straws means to guess randomly or pursue any apparent option, due to a lack of clear choices or information.
What part of speech is grasp at straws?: Grasp at straws is a verb.
What is the past tense of grasp at straws?: The past tense of grasp at straws is grasped at straws.

Words near grasp at straws in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-grasp at straws.ogg.

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