Word.ws English Dictionary

reach for

reach for verb: to try to get (something) by extending one's arm or moving one's hand.

Verb

reach for (third-person singular simple present reaches for, present participle reaching for, simple past and past participle reached for)

  1. To try to get (something) by extending one's arm or moving one's hand.
    • In reaching for a glass he knocked over the ashtray.
  2. To aspire to achieve.
    • to reach for success

Forms of reach for

third-person singular presentreaches for
present participlereaching for
past participlereached for
pastreached for

Words formed from reach for

Questions about reach for

What does reach for mean?
Reach for means to try to get (something) by extending one's arm or moving one's hand.
What part of speech is reach for?
Reach for is a verb.
What is the past tense of reach for?
The past tense of reach for is reached for.

Words near reach for in the dictionary

  1. reacetylation
  2. reacetylations
  3. reach
  4. reach across the aisle
  5. reach down
  6. reach for
  7. reach for the moon
  8. reach for the skies
  9. reach for the sky
  10. reach for the stars
  11. reach mahjong

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reach for (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: “reach for.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reach_for. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.