different between grasp vs choose

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

English

Alternative forms

• chuse (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English chosen, chesen, from Old English ??osan (“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”), from Proto-West Germanic *keusan, from Proto-Germanic *keusan? (“to taste, choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *?éwseti, from *?ews- (“to taste, try”).

Cognate with Scots chose, chese (“to choose”), French choisir (“to choose”), North Frisian kese (“to choose”), West Frisian kieze (“to choose”), Dutch kiezen (“to choose”), Low German kesen (“to choose”), archaic and partially obsolete German kiesen (“to choose”), Danish kyse (“to frighten (via ‘to charm, allure’ and ‘to enchant’)”), Norwegian kjose (“to choose”), Swedish tjusa (“to charm, allure, enchant”), Icelandic kjósa (“to choose, vote, elect”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (kiusan, “to test”), Latin gust? (“I taste, sample”), Ancient Greek ???? (geú?, “to feed”), Sanskrit ????? (jó?ati, “to like, enjoy”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: cho?oz, IPA^(key): /t??u?z/
• Rhymes: -u?z
• Homophone: chews

Verb

choose (third-person singular simple present chooses, present participle choosing, simple past chose or (nonstandard) choosed, past participle chosen or (nonstandard) choosed or (now colloquial) chose)

1. To pick; to make the choice of; to select.

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.

2. To elect.

3. To decide to act in a certain way.

4. To wish; to desire; to prefer.
   • 2016, Justin Deschamps:

   • The landlady now returned to know if we did not choose a more genteel apartment.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Conjugation

Related terms

• choice
• choosey
• chosen

Translations

Conjunction

choose

1. (mathematics) The binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.

   The number of distinct subsets of size k from a set of size n is ${\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}}$ or "n choose k".

See also

• Binomial coefficient on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English chose, chos, chooce, from chosen (“to choose”). Cognate with Scots chose (“choosing, choice, selection”).

Noun

choose (plural chooses)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) The act of choosing; selection.
2. (dialectal or obsolete) The power, right, or privilege of choosing; election.
3. (dialectal or obsolete) Scope for choice.

References

• choose in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• choose in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• Cohoes, cohoes, ooches