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🤲 A confused search 🤲 To search by touch 🤦 An awkward person
to gropple

to gropple

9.9
To feel around with your hands to find something in the dark
  • verb
  • /ˈɡrɒpəl/
translation icon : manosear
  • He had to gropple around in the dark to find his keys.

Examples

  • She groppled through her bag, trying to find her phone.

  • The children groppled in the sand, searching for hidden shells.

  • I tried to gropple around in the dark for my keys.

  • Can you help me gropple for the light switch?

  • He had to gropple around in the dark to find his keys.

  • She groppled through her bag, trying to find her phone.

  • Can you help me gropple for the light switch?

Synonyms

to claw
vsto gropple
42 5.0

To try to get or keep something with great effort

describes searching by touch and struggling, not violent pulling
to fumble
vsto gropple
39 4.8

To move your hands clumsily while trying to find something

means active searching or struggling rather than mere clumsiness
to grope
vsto gropple
21 6.3

To feel for something with your hands when you cannot see

is broader and includes struggling physically as well as feeling
to grope for
vsto gropple
6 7.1

To feel with your hands to find something in the dark

is broader by adding physical struggling to simple feeling searches
to grub
vsto gropple
8.2

To dig in the ground or search through things with hands

focuses on feeling and struggling by hand, not digging activity

Antonyms

to find
∞ 1.0

To discover something while looking or by accident

How Vigorous

to grapple
10 5.1
to gropple
9.9
to scrabble
5 6.5
to grope
21 6.3
to fumble
39 4.8

Surface Forms

gropple infinitive
groped past
groped past participle
gropping present participle
gropples third person singular

Morphology

gropple = grope + grapple (semi-transparent) = grope + grapple

The verb is a blend of 'grope' and 'grapple'; its meaning (to grope/struggle) is directly suggested by the components but requires recognizing the blended formation.

Etymology

Gropple as a verb is a playful mix of grope ('to feel with the hands') and grapple ('to struggle'). So to gropple is to grope or struggle with your hands when searching, especially in the dark.