GRAPPLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does grappling mean? 

• GRAPPLING (noun)
  The noun GRAPPLING has 2 senses:

1. the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat

2. the sport of hand-to-hand struggle between unarmed contestants who try to throw each other down

  Familiarity information: GRAPPLING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRAPPLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

grapple; grappling; hand-to-hand struggle; wrestle; wrestling

Context example:

we watched his grappling and wrestling with the bully

Hypernyms ("grappling" is a kind of...):

struggle (strenuous effort)

Derivation:

grapple (to grip or seize, as in a wrestling match)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The sport of hand-to-hand struggle between unarmed contestants who try to throw each other down

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

grappling; rassling; wrestling

Hypernyms ("grappling" is a kind of...):

contact sport (a sport that necessarily involves body contact between opposing players)

Meronyms (parts of "grappling"):

wrestling hold (a hold used in the sport of wrestling)

Domain member category:

full nelson (a wrestling hold in which the holder puts both arms under the opponent's arms and exerts pressure on the back of the neck (illegal in amateur wrestling))

takedown ((amateur wrestling) being brought to the mat from a standing position)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grappling"):

flying mare (a wrestling maneuver)

Greco-Roman wrestling (a style of wrestling where the wrestlers are forbidden to tackle or trip or use holds below the waist)

professional wrestling (wrestling for money)

sumo (a Japanese form of wrestling; you lose if you are forced out of a small ring or if any part of your body (other than your feet) touches the ground)

Derivation:

grapple (to grip or seize, as in a wrestling match)

 Context examples 

The next instant he was grappling with Buck on the extreme edge, while Hans and Pete were dragging them back into safety.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

As he went on I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being; chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She learned to look upon danger clear-eyed and with understanding, losing forever that panic fear which is bred of ignorance and which afflicts the city-reared, making them as silly as silly horses, so that they await fate in frozen horror instead of grappling with it, or stampede in blind self-destroying terror which clutters the way with their crushed carcasses.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)