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grasping at straws

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.04 sec.
grasping at straws
Fig. to depend on something that is useless; to make a futile attempt at something. John couldn't answer the teacher's question. He was just grasping at straws. There I was, grasping at straws, with no one to help me.
See also: straw

grasping at straws also clutching at straws
1. trying to find some way to succeed when nothing you choose is likely to work Jerry, grasping at straws, searched the backup tapes from last week, looking for the missing files.
2. trying to find reasons to feel hopeful about a bad situation She thinks he might still be interested because he calls her now and then but I think she's clutching at straws.
See also: straw


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But in person, Fetzer sounds less like an unscrupulous author grasping at straws than a man determined to preach his truth to the world at large, whether or not the world is ready to hear it.
Patrick Mosman seems to be grasping at straws in his vague assertions about ricin and "small caches" of WMD.
By all indications, Casden is grasping at straws to get back at Cooley.
 
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