Word.ws English Dictionary

straw-clutching

straw-clutching adjective: of an incident or situation, desperately attempting to find a solution.

Adjective

straw-clutching

  1. (idiomatic, informal) Of an incident or situation, desperately attempting to find a solution.
    • Every bit of straw-clutching, every bit of hope that Hugh might be alive was followed instantly by a reaction of dismay, of reluctance to pursue it.1962, Lionel Davidson, The Rose of Tibet, page 65
    • After "little green men" and other straw-clutching explanations had been eliminated, it was realized that the source must be a rotating neutron star.1984, Jon Darius, Beyond Vision, page 128

Words formed from straw-clutching

Questions about straw-clutching

What does straw-clutching mean?
Straw-clutching means of an incident or situation, desperately attempting to find a solution.
What part of speech is straw-clutching?
Straw-clutching is an adjective.

Words near straw-clutching in the dictionary

  1. straw wine
  2. straw wines
  3. straw-bed
  4. straw-beds
  5. straw-bottomed
  6. straw-clutching
  7. straw-clutchingly
  8. straw-colored
  9. straw-coloured
  10. straw-grasping
  11. straw-hat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: straw-clutching (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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