get to grips with

Definitions

1. To deal (with something) decisively, or to confront (it) head on.
   UK, idiomatic
2. To battle (with something).
   UK, idiomatic
3. To gain an understanding (of something).
   UK, idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“Estonia were struggling to get⟳ to grips with the game while Ireland were showing a composure and guile that demonstrated their experience⟳ in play-off ties.”

“[…] autism is the integral explanation of the phenomenon Kafka in all its expressions, and autism can explain⟳ the mystery of Kafka like⟳ no other of the interpretations proposed by literary scholars and critics in the history of Kafka research⟳. […] The search⟳ by Kafka in his writing was for the unknown perspective in his fellow human beings which could put⟳ him at ease but he never managed to find⟳ it. He intuited this other state of mind⟳ and his writing is a testament of his search⟳ for this alien state of mind⟳ or self-consciousness which he tried to describe⟳ via parables, animal stories, aphorisms and images. His problem was that he could not get⟳ to grips with reality, more specifically his own⟳ reality, because he could not live⟳ with it.”

CEFR level