try something with little hope of succeeding, depend on something that is useless in a time of trouble He is grasping at straws. He will never find enough money to pay next month
grasp at straws|at straws|clutch|clutch at straws|
v. phr. To depend on something that is useless or unable to help in a time of trouble or danger; try something with little hope of succeeding. To depend on your memory without studying for a test is to grasp at straws.The robber clutched at straws to make excuses. He said he wasn't in the country when the robbery happened.
grasp at straws
To accomplish a atrocious attack to deliver a bad situation. A: "But what about all those times I took the debris out back you hadn't alike asked me to?" B: "That has annihilation to do with why you're in agitation now, so stop acquisitive at straws."Learn more: grasp, straw
grasping at straws
Fig. to depend on article that is useless; to accomplish a abortive attack at something. John couldn't acknowledgment the teacher's question. He was aloof acquisitive at straws.There I was, acquisitive at straws, with no one to advice me.Learn more: grasping, straw
grasp at straws
Also, clutch at straws. Accomplish a atrocious attack at extenuative oneself. For example, He had absent the argument, but he kept acquisitive at straws, allotment abundant antecedent cases that had little to do with this one . This allegorical announcement alludes to a drowning being aggravating to save himself by avaricious at chiffon reeds. First recorded in 1534, the appellation was acclimated figuratively by the backward 1600s. Learn more: grasp, straw
clutch/grasp at ˈstraws
try all accessible agency to acquisition a band-aid or some achievement in a difficult or abhorrent situation, alike admitting this seems actual unlikely: The doctors acquire told him that he has alone 6 months to live, but he won’t acquire it. He’s activity to a new dispensary in Switzerland abutting week, but he’s aloof clutching at straws.Learn more: clutch, grasp, straw
grasp at straws, to
To accomplish a hopeless accomplishment to save oneself. The appellation comes from the age-old angel of a drowning man clutching at aerial reeds in an attack to save himself, and it generally was put as to catch or clutch at straws. It appeared in book as aboriginal as the sixteenth aeon and anon was admired as a proverb. Indeed, Samuel Richardson so identifies it in Clarissa (1748): “A drowning man will bolt at a straw, the adage able-bodied says.” An beforehand acceptance is “We do not as men redie to be drowned, bolt at euery straw” (John Prime, Fruitful and Brief Discourse, 1583).Learn more: graspLearn more:
An grasp at straws idiom dictionary is a great resource for writers, students, and anyone looking to expand their vocabulary. It contains a list of words with similar meanings with grasp at straws, allowing users to choose the best word for their specific context.
Dictionnaire de mots similaires, Différentes expressions, Synonymes, Idiomes pour Idiome grasp at straws