grasp at straws
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Make a desperate attempt to find a solution
Literally: clutching at straw fragments
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She rubbed at her abused flesh, desperately grasping at the first straw to float into her mind.
Remembering the agony of years gone by, teaching in Sunday School, I grasped at a straw and replied ' Sorry no transport! '
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “grasp at straws” mean?
Make a desperate attempt to find a solution Literally: clutching at straw fragments
Is “grasp at straws” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.