Library / English Dictionary

GROPE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of groping; and instance of groping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("grope" is a kind of...):

touch; touching (the act of putting two things together with no space between them)

Derivation:

grope (fondle for sexual pleasure)

grope (feel about uncertainly or blindly)

grope (search blindly or uncertainly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fondle for sexual pleasure

Example:

He made some sexual advances at the woman in his office and groped her repeatedly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "grope" is one way to...):

caress; fondle (touch or stroke lightly in a loving or endearing manner)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

grope (the act of groping; and instance of groping)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Feel about uncertainly or blindly

Example:

She groped for her glasses in the darkness of the bedroom

Synonyms:

fumble; grope

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "grope" is one way to...):

look for; search; seek (try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Also:

grope for (feel searchingly)

Derivation:

grope (the act of groping; and instance of groping)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Search blindly or uncertainly

Example:

His mind groped to make the connection

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "grope" is one way to...):

assay; attempt; essay; seek; try (make an effort or attempt)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

grope (the act of groping; and instance of groping)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Driving snow, a wind that cut like a white-hot knife, and darkness had forced them to grope for a camping place.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

This monster has done much harm already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in darkness and not knowing.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And the lawyer, scared by the thought, brooded awhile on his own past, groping in all the corners of memory, least by chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light there.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The puny plot of the story was so thin, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the day.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A cold sweat stood on her forehead, the manuscript fell from her hand, and groping her way to the bed, she jumped hastily in, and sought some suspension of agony by creeping far underneath the clothes.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He was alive, painfully alive, to the great universal things, and yet he was compelled to potter and grope among schoolboy topics and debate whether or not he should study Latin.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Groping my way more carefully, for the rest of the journey, my heart beat high when I found the outer door, which had Mr. TRADDLES painted on it, open.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was groping into his soul-stuff as he made a practice of groping in the soul-stuff of others.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was not yet dark, and in the lingering twilight he groped about among the rocks for shreds of dry moss.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

At any rate, it shall be strong enough to search—inquire—to grope an outlet from this cloud of doubt, and find the open day of certainty.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)