English · Idiom Attested

grasp the nettle

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To tackle a problem in a bold manner, despite the difficulty or complexity of doing so; to solve a problem despite short-term adverse consequences.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

xử lý một vấn đề một cách can đảm và dứt khoát

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

‘ grasp the nettle’ by raising issues and problems that the group ought to face and tackle

Disappointing as the terms were from the peasant point of view ‘ for the Imperial government to grasp the nettle of Emancipation at all was a remarkable departure.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Imported from Wikipedia “English-language idioms” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Common questions

What does “grasp the nettle” mean?

To tackle a problem in a bold manner, despite the difficulty or complexity of doing so; to solve a problem despite short-term adverse consequences.

Is “grasp the nettle” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.