to get to grips
2
5.7
- phrasal verb
- UK
:
enfrentarse
- As the semester began, the students had to get to grips with the advanced material in their chemistry class.
- get to grips with their job
And then after about six months, I was getting to grips with the trauma.
- And then after about six months, I was getting to grips with the trauma.
- Feel what you just described when you first get to grips with the idea of this new coming wave.
- I've got to be honest, I don't think the Gladiators have got to grips with what they're doing yet because they're not the hamster ball thing.
Examples
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Travel is a low-margin industry with multiple players, so getting to grips with the true potential of big data has been a long time coming.
Blog text (24) -
For your child to understand budgeting fully, they'll first need to get to grips with the idea of working to earn money in the first place.
Blog text (12) -
Feel what you just described when you first get to grips with the idea of this new coming wave.
-
But this does not mean that this year there are no new things to get to grips with.
Academic text (2014) -
And then after about six months, I was getting to grips with the trauma.
-
I'm still getting to grips with it, but I see so many advantages to it.
Blog text (11) -
Have you got to grips with evolution yet, climate sceptics?
Blog text (11) -
Whilst the track has proved rather difficult to get to grips with, experiencing its characteristics for the first time has been quite fascinating.
Blog text (33) -
When youngsters head off to college, managing a budget can be one of the most difficult things to get to grips with, as the chances are they will have never had to do it before.
Blog text (5) -
He was really the first scientist to get to grips with a big modern bureaucracy.
Synonyms
146
4.1
To understand something difficult clearly
52
6.1
To try hard to deal with a difficult problem or situation
37
3.9
To begin to understand something after a while
30
5.5
Start to accept and deal with a difficult situation
25
7.8
Start to understand what is happening or what to do
13
4.0
Start to understand and control your feelings or a hard situation
3
5.4
To begin to understand and deal with a difficult subject or problem
1
5.1
Start to understand something after finding it confusing
Antonyms
How Well
191
4.1
239
2.3
150
2.9
- UK
2
5.7
159
2.6
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is partly inferable because 'get' + 'grip' evokes obtaining control or understanding, so a learner who knows both words could guess it relates to grasping or managing something. However, the construction 'get to grips (with)'—especially the plural 'grips' and the idiomatic sense of 'beginning to deal with' a difficult issue—is not fully predictable from the parts, making comprehension likely only partial without exposure.
Etymology
Get to grips may come from the image of taking a firm grip with your hands to hold and control something. So, to get to grips with a problem means to begin holding it and managing it, which is why we use it to mean 'to deal with or understand' a difficult situation.