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grapple

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To seize and hold firmly in close combat; to engage in hand-to-hand struggle; also to wrestle with a problem or difficulty, seeking to master it.

Detailed Definition
“Grapple” implies intense physical or mental engagement—wrestling with foes or ideas. In epic poetry, it describes hand-to-hand battle; in metaphysical verse, intellectual struggle. The verb’s grit suits dynamic conflict. Poets use it to dramatize confrontation where resolution requires total commitment, reinforcing themes of courage, obsession, or existential wrestling.
Example
Example in poetry:
“They grappled in the dark like warring spirits,” in an epic of internal conflict; In Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” angels “grapple in the fiery gulf”; “Grapple not with shadows, but face the light,” urges a philosophical verse; Shakespeare’s Coriolanus describes soldiers who “grapple with the enemy like boars”; “The mind must grapple with doubt before finding faith,” a metaphysical conceit; She grappled with grief, yet sang through tears.
Additional Notes
“Grapple” implies intimate, visceral combat—physical or ideological; in epic or dramatic poetry, it conveys desperate engagement (“grapple with fate”), emphasizing closeness and struggle over distant conflict.
Also Known As
wrestle grapple with seize
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