1
Core action
Struggle seriously to understand, confront, or deal with a difficult problem or question.
Example
The study grapples with the difficulty of measuring trust.
grapple
/ˈɡræpəl/ · GRAP-ulverb
Struggle seriously to understand, confront, or deal with a difficult problem or question.
Use grapple to express this relationship precisely: struggle seriously to understand, confront, or deal with a difficult problem or question.
What grapple Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common construction
Use this expression in its normal grammatical frame so the relationship between the surrounding ideas remains explicit.
Example
Communities continue to grapple with water scarcity.
3
Reasoning effect
It tells the reader how to interpret the timing, scope, evidence, contrast, condition, or consequence in the statement.
Example
The novel grapples with questions of memory and responsibility.
Use grapple Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
The study grapples with the difficulty of measuring trust.
Communities continue to grapple with water scarcity.
The novel grapples with questions of memory and responsibility.
Precision Matters
Grapple overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
grapple
vs.Means struggle seriously to understand, confront, or deal with a difficult problem or question.
reconcile
Means restore agreement or make apparently conflicting things compatible.
grapple
vs.Means struggle seriously to understand, confront, or deal with a difficult problem or question.
deliberate
Means consider or discuss a question carefully before making a decision.
grapple
vs.Means struggle seriously to understand, confront, or deal with a difficult problem or question.
circumvent
Means to find a way around or avoid an obstacle.
grapple
vs.Means struggle seriously to understand, confront, or deal with a difficult problem or question.
abandon
Means give up, discontinue, or leave something completely, especially a plan, effort, place, or possession.
Test grapple in Context
The historian engages seriously with a difficult evidential problem.
1
Rather than ignore the conflicting evidence, the historian chose to ___ with its implications.