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grope

[grohp]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used without object)

to feel about with the hands; feel one's way: I had to grope around in the darkness before I found the light switch.

to search blindly or uncertainly: He seemed to be groping for an answer to the question.

verb (used with object)

to seek by or as if by groping: to grope one's way up the dark stairs.

to touch or handle (someone) for sexual pleasure.

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Grope is always a great word to know.

So is jostle. Does it mean:

to seek favors from a person in an obsequious manner, to fawn over

to pick the pocket of or hassle the body of

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noun

an act or instance of groping.

Slang. an act or instance of sexually fondling another person.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English gropien, Old English grāpian, derivative of grāp grasp; akin to gripe, grasp

Synonyms
1. fumble, probe, fish.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To grope

Example Sentences

Some bring poignant efforts to the work, but then grope for a handhold.

They may still grope each other--but they'll do it intelligently.

As rival leaders grope for a definition of the centre-left, however, a political gap is opening up to their left.

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Some bring poignant efforts to the work, but then grope for a handhold.

They may still grope each other--but they'll do it intelligently.

As rival leaders grope for a definition of the centre-left, however, a political gap is opening up to their left.

We definitely have to grope through darkness, as you said.

Or carbon, in whose grubby grope it makes fossil fuels.

Human babies gum and grope for things to soothe the pain, handling all possibilities before putting them into their mouths.

It might not be long before airport security will let you keep your shoes on, even if they do grope you.

Human babies gum and grope for things munch on to soothe the.

Human babies gum and grope for things munch on to soothe the pain.

And the only alternative is a grope down or a grope up.

But toward the sea he had to grope with mental inference.

Some of them pinch and grope women on trains, or shout insults and catcalls, she said.

On its factory floor, some workers contended, some men felt free to grope women or to ask them to bare their breasts.

King's demeanor remained quiet as he seemed to search his memory and grope for answers.

Grope with the tape until it catches the end of the cable.

He's an aging, obese, theatrical schoolteacher who offers pupils motorbike rides in order to grope them.

American anglers grope for comparisons when sizing up tenkara.

He grabbed her, pushed her up against a fence and forced his hand up her skirt to grope her, the victim told the police.

Giscard d'Estaing grope a female researcher's backside as he says goodbye after an.

Most people immediately declare that these acts are wrong and then grope to justify why they are wrong.

Mother used to tell me how she would grope her way home in the pitch dark through the side streets and back alleys.

Charter schools are useful only if they grope their way toward enhancing these sorts of relationships.

I've seen performers grope ticket buyers, jump on their laps and even suck their toes.

They smoke a cigarette and then pull on their clothes and grope their way downstairs.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

grope (ɡrəʊp)

—vb (usually foll by for)
1.	to feel or search about uncertainly (for something) with the hands
2.	(intr; usually foll by for or after) to search uncertainly or with difficulty (for a solution, answer, etc)
3.	(tr) to find or make (one's way) by groping
4.	slang (tr) to feel or fondle the body of (someone) for sexual gratification

—n
5.	the act of groping

[Old English grāpian; related to Old High German greifōn, Norwegian greipa; compare gripe]

'gropingly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

grope

O.E. grapian "to feel about as one blind or in darkness," originally "to feel or handle," related to gripan "grasp at" (see gripe). Fig. sense is from early 14c. Indecent sense (marked as "obsolete" in OED) is from c.1300.

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Related Words

feel fumble grabble gripe

groping group grope guddle stumble

Matching Quote

"Plants are the young of the world, vessels of health and vigor; but they grope ever upwards towards consciousness; the trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their imprisonment, rooted in the ground."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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