different between feel vs grasp

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi?l/, [fi??]
• Rhymes: -i?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English felen, from Old English f?lan (“to feel, perceive, touch”), from Proto-West Germanic *f?lijan (“to feel”).

Verb

feel (third-person singular simple present feels, present participle feeling, simple past and past participle felt)

1. (heading) To use or experience the sense of touch.
   1. (transitive, copulative) To become aware of through the skin; to use the sense of touch on.

   2. (transitive) To find one's way (literally or figuratively) by touching or using cautious movements.

   3. (intransitive) To receive information by touch or by any neurons other than those responsible for sight, smell, taste, or hearing.
   4. (intransitive) To search by sense of touch.

2. (heading) To sense or think emotionally or judgmentally.
   1. (transitive) To experience an emotion or other mental state about.
      • Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile?; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
   2. (transitive) To think, believe, or have an impression concerning.
   3. (intransitive, copulative) To experience an emotion or other mental state.
   4. (intransitive) To sympathise; to have the sensibilities moved or affected.
      • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

        [She] feels with the dignity of a Roman matron.

      • 1738, Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires

        who feel for all mankind

3. (transitive) To be or become aware of.
4. (transitive) To experience the consequences of.

5. (copulative) To seem (through touch or otherwise).

6. (transitive, US, slang) To understand.

Usage notes

• When referring to the emotional state, most prescriptive grammarians prefer "I feel bad" to "I feel badly", but "I feel badly" is widely used this way in US English.
• Adjectives to which "feel" is often applied as a copula: free, cold, cool, warm, hot, young, old, good, great, fine, happy, glad, satisfied, excited, bad, depressed, unhappy, sad, blue, sorry, smart, stupid, loved, appreciated, accepted, rejected, lonely, isolated, insulted, offended, slighted, cheated, shy, refreshed, tired, exhausted, calm, relaxed, angry, annoyed, frustrated, anxious, worried, jealous, proud, confident, safe, grateful, uncomfortable, unsafe, insecure, desperate, guilty, ashamed, disappointed, dirty, odd, strange, ill, sick.
• In senses 2,3, and 5, this is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
• In older forms of English, when the pronoun thou was in active use, and verbs used -est for distinct second-person singular indicative forms, the verb feel had the form feelest, and had feltest for its past tense.
• Similarly, when the ending -eth was in active use for third-person singular present indicative forms, the form feeleth was used.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

feel (plural feels)

1. A quality of an object experienced by touch.

   Bark has a rough feel.

2. A vague mental impression.

   You should get a feel of the area before moving in.

3. An act of fondling.

   She gave me a quick feel to show that she loves me.

4. A vague understanding.

   I'm getting a feel for what you mean.

5. An intuitive ability.

   She has a feel for music.

6. (chiefly US, slang) Alternative form of feeling.

   I know that feel.

Derived terms

• cop a feel
• get a feel for
• mouthfeel

Translations

Etymology 2

See fele.

Pronoun

feel

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

Adjective

feel (not comparable)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

Adverb

feel (not comparable)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) Alternative form of fele

References

Anagrams

• elfe, fele, flee, leef

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian f?la.

Verb

feel

1. (Föhr-Amrum) to feel

Old Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin fid?lem (“faithful”). Replaced by the borrowing fidel in modern Catalan.

Adjective

feel

1. faithful

Seri

Noun

feel (plural feeloj)

1. mallard, Anas platyrhynchos

English

Etymology

From Middle English graspen, grapsen, craspen (“to grope; feel around”), from Old English gr?psan (“to touch, feel”), from Proto-Germanic *graipis?n?. Cognate with German Low German grapsen (“to grab; grasp”), Saterland Frisian Grapse (“double handful”). Compare also Swedish krafsa (“to scatch; scabble”), Norwegian krafse (“to scramble”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????sp/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??æsp/
• Rhymes: -æsp

Verb

grasp (third-person singular simple present grasps, present participle grasping, simple past and past participle grasped)

1. To grip; to take hold, particularly with the hand.
3. To understand.

   I have never been able to grasp the concept of infinity.

4. To take advantage of something, to seize, to jump at a chance.

Synonyms

• (grip): clasp, grip, hold tight; See also Thesaurus:grasp
• (understand): comprehend, fathom
• (take advantage): jump at the chance, jump on

Derived terms

• begrasp
• foregrasp
• grasp the nettle

Related terms

Translations

Noun

grasp (plural grasps)

1. (sometimes figuratively) Grip.

   • Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
3. Understanding.
   • 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 13:

     There is for the mind but one grasp of happiness: from that uppermost pinnacle of wisdom, whence we see that this world is well designed.

4. That which is accessible; that which is within one's reach or ability.

Translations

Anagrams

• ARPGs, sprag