immoderately desirous of acquiring e g wealth; "they are avaricious and will do anything for money"; "casting covetous eyes on his neighbor's fields"; "a grasping old miser"; "grasping commercialism"; "greedy for money and power"; "grew richer and greedier"; "prehensile employers stingy with raises for their employees"
understanding with difficulty; "the lecture was beyond his most strenuous graspings"
disapproval If you describe someone as grasping, you are criticizing them for wanting to get and keep as much money as possible, and for being unwilling to spend it. a greedy grasping drug-ridden individual. too eager to get money and unwilling to give any of it away or spend it