Word.ws English Dictionary

grasp the nettle

grasp the nettle verb: to act boldly, especially when there are short-term adverse consequences.

Verb

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

  1. To act boldly, especially when there are short-term adverse consequences.
    • Hence it was that a few dozen policemen, resolutely grasping the nettle, had no difficulty in handling it.1886 February 22, “London's Recent Rioting”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 Aug 2010, page 5
    • President Truman, when at last he grasped the nettle and dismissed MacArthur, knew well enough the outcry that would follow.1951 April 30, “From Today's Times”, in Ottawa Citizen, Canada, retrieved 18 Aug 2010, page 2

Examples of grasp the nettle in a sentence

  • This year they decided to grasp the nettle.1993 September, “Seeking an identity”, in Guildford Gazette, number 3, page 8:
  • We must grasp the nettle and make the most of this opportunity.2020 May 6, Stefanie Foster, “Comment: One chance for a new order”, in Rail, page 3:

Forms of grasp the nettle

third-person singular presentgrasps the nettle
present participlegrasping the nettle
past participlegrasped the nettle
pastgrasped the nettle

Origin of grasp the nettle

From the short-term skin irritation caused by the stinging nettle.

Questions about grasp the nettle

What does grasp the nettle mean?
Grasp the nettle means to act boldly, especially when there are short-term adverse consequences.
How do you use grasp the nettle in a sentence?
This year they decided to grasp the nettle.
What part of speech is grasp the nettle?
Grasp the nettle is a verb.
What is the past tense of grasp the nettle?
The past tense of grasp the nettle is grasped the nettle.

Words near grasp the nettle in the dictionary

  1. grasp
  2. grasp all, lose all
  3. grasp at a straw
  4. grasp at straws
  5. grasp for straws
  6. grasp the nettle
  7. graspability
  8. graspable
  9. graspableness
  10. grasped
  11. grasped at straws

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grasp the nettle (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-grasp the nettle.ogg.

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