grope
pronunciation
How to pronounce grope in British English:
UK [ɡrəʊp]
How to pronounce grope in American English:
US [ɡroʊp]
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- Noun:
- the act of groping; and instance of groping
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- Verb:
- feel about uncertainly or blindly
- search blindly or uncertainly
- fondle for sexual pleasure
Word Origin
- grope
- grope: see grip
- grope (v.)
- late Old English grapian "to feel about (as one blind or in darkness)," also "take hold of, seize, touch, attain," related to gripan "grasp at" (see gripe (v.)). Transitive sense "search out by sense of touch alone" was in late Old English. Figurative sense is from early 14c. Indecent sense "touch (someone) amorously, play with, fondle" (marked as "obsolete" in OED 2nd edition) is from c. 1200. Related: Groped; groping.
- grope (n.)
- c. 1500, "act of groping," from grope (v.). Old English had grap "a grasp."
Example
- 1. Many new welfare economists understandably continue to grope for some way of salvaging something out of the wreckage .
- 2. The wobbly aftermaths of those convulsions also look much the same , as tunisians and egyptians grope their way into a more complex new world .
- 3. Family that can 't wait : maybe we are still young , and we have much time for us to grope and struggle , but what about your families ?