different between grasp vs purchase

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

Etymology

From Middle English purchasen, from Anglo-Norman purchacer (“seek to obtain”) from pur- (from Latin pro-) + chac(i)er (“to chase, pursue”). Compare Old French porchacier (“to follow, to chase”), which has given French pourchasser (“to chase without relent”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?t??s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??t??s/
• Hyphenation: pur?chase

Noun

purchase (countable and uncountable, plural purchases)

1. The acquisition of title to, or property in, anything for a price; buying for money or its equivalent.

2. That which is obtained, got or acquired, in any manner, honestly or dishonestly; property; possession; acquisition.
3. That which is obtained for a price in money or its equivalent.

4. (obsolete) The act or process of seeking and obtaining something (e.g. property, etc.)

   • I'll […] get meat to save thee, / Or lose my life i’ th’ purchase.

5. A price paid for a house or estate, etc. equal to the amount of the rent or income during the stated number of years.
   • 1848, The Sessional Papers printed by order of the House of Lords

     Suppose a freehold house to be worth 20 years’ purchase […]

6. (uncountable, also figuratively) Any mechanical hold or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle or capstan.

   Synonyms: contact, grip, hold

7. The apparatus, tackle or device by which such mechanical advantage is gained and in nautical terminology the ratio of such a device, like a pulley, or block and tackle.
8. (rock climbing, uncountable) The amount of hold one has from an individual foothold or ledge.

   Synonyms: foothold, support
9. (law, dated) Acquisition of lands or tenements by means other than descent or inheritance, namely, by one's own act or agreement.

Derived terms

• purchase order
• repurchase

Translations

Verb

purchase (third-person singular simple present purchases, present participle purchasing, simple past and past participle purchased)

1. To buy, obtain by payment of a price in money or its equivalent.

2. To pursue and obtain; to acquire by seeking; to gain, obtain, or acquire.

   • that loves the thing he cannot purchase
3. To obtain by any outlay, as of labor, danger, or sacrifice, etc.

   to purchase favor with flattery
4. To expiate by a fine or forfeit.
5. To apply to (anything) a device for obtaining a mechanical advantage; to get a purchase upon, or apply a purchase to; to raise or move by mechanical means.

6. To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert oneself.
   • 1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, Froissart's Chronicles

     Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage.

7. To constitute the buying power for a purchase, have a trading value.

Synonyms

• (buy): procure

Derived terms

• purchasable
• purchasing agent
• purchasing power

Translations

Anagrams

• search up