1
as in hugged
to put one's arms around and press tightly
clasped his long-lost sister and cried without restraint
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in held
to reach for and take hold of by embracing with the fingers or arms
clasped a crayon and began drawing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of clasped
As the service began, it was clasped shut.
—
Bracey Harris,
NBC news,
28 June 2026
The Philly duo’s tender, faintly medieval-sounding folk song has its hands clasped and its heart on its sleeve.
—
Lily Goldberg,
Pitchfork,
26 June 2026
Loay Hidmi was walking deliberately along the edge of the pool closest to the Lincoln Memorial, hands clasped behind his back, looking over the ledge.
—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
19 June 2026
Newlyweds Tito Avalos, 26, and Andrea Avalos, 24, who were visiting from El Salvador, tied their wishes to a tree together, their wrists entwined and fingers clasped.
—
Deborah Vankin,
Los Angeles Times,
10 June 2026
In Wake-Keeper (2026), a roughly four-by-five-foot canvas, a pious man draped in the red cloth of traditional Ghanaian funeral attire sits on a stool with his hands clasped, his body facing the left side of the frame.
—
Lovia Gyarkye,
The New York Review of Books,
6 June 2026
With the entire circumference surrounded by a sea of humanity, Bishnoi hung back, her hands clasped in front of her mouth, while Rai went and lofted the Wanamaker Trophy above his head.
—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
18 May 2026
Hands clasped, head bowed, blank and fair of face.
—
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
Another girl, Donna Jo, apparently naked on a back-yard lawn, holds several small, round pieces of fruit, still on their leafy branch, clasped to her chest like a trophy.
—
Vince Aletti,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 2026
Bracey Harris,
NBC news,
28 June 2026
The Philly duo’s tender, faintly medieval-sounding folk song has its hands clasped and its heart on its sleeve.
—
Lily Goldberg,
Pitchfork,
26 June 2026
Loay Hidmi was walking deliberately along the edge of the pool closest to the Lincoln Memorial, hands clasped behind his back, looking over the ledge.
—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
19 June 2026
Newlyweds Tito Avalos, 26, and Andrea Avalos, 24, who were visiting from El Salvador, tied their wishes to a tree together, their wrists entwined and fingers clasped.
—
Deborah Vankin,
Los Angeles Times,
10 June 2026
In Wake-Keeper (2026), a roughly four-by-five-foot canvas, a pious man draped in the red cloth of traditional Ghanaian funeral attire sits on a stool with his hands clasped, his body facing the left side of the frame.
—
Lovia Gyarkye,
The New York Review of Books,
6 June 2026
With the entire circumference surrounded by a sea of humanity, Bishnoi hung back, her hands clasped in front of her mouth, while Rai went and lofted the Wanamaker Trophy above his head.
—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
18 May 2026
Hands clasped, head bowed, blank and fair of face.
—
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
Another girl, Donna Jo, apparently naked on a back-yard lawn, holds several small, round pieces of fruit, still on their leafy branch, clasped to her chest like a trophy.
—
Vince Aletti,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clasped
Verb
-
In the selfie video, Valentina grinned into the camera wearing a gold choker and gold hoops as her mother hugged her from behind.
-
At the defense table that day, Broadwater, wearing a gray pinstripe suit, choked back sobs and hugged his lawyers.
Verb
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The rapper, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, has been held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center since he was arrested in September 2024.
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That means every state budget could be held hostage until the whims of a small fraction of legislators is satisfied.
Verb
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There had no visible safety equipment, and clung to the spire by their fingertips.
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The chaotic conclusion nearly overshadowed what Gray had done earlier, striking out nine and shutting down the Yankees emphatically for 7 1/3 innings as Boston clung to a 2-0 advantage.
Verb
-
In second grade, Hung completed a yearlong math class in three months and grasped pre-algebra in third grade, said Choi, a longtime tutor who began teaching her son during the COVID-19 pandemic.
-
The drive to define the face as a data point, something to be grasped and controlled, underpins the bureaucracy of the modern nation-state, in which faces are surveyed, categorized, and stored in digital banks.
Verb
-
Like much of Europe, Romania has been gripped by a heatwave this week, with temperatures in some areas forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
-
Button Gwinnett didn’t want to be in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress in the summer of 1776, and not just because a heat wave gripped the city and delegates dressed in wool and powdered wigs.
Verb
-
Miami Fire Rescue paramedics took the man, thought to be in his early 30s, to Jackson Memorial Hospital, Fallat said.
-
In early June, Johnson met with workers who support the ILA and took a photo with them.
Cite this Entry
“Clasped.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clasped. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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