come to grips with

Idioms and Phrases

Confront squarely, deal decisively with, as in Her stories help the children come to grips with upsetting events . This term, sometimes put as get to grips with , employs grip in the sense of a “tight hold.” [Mid-1900s]

Example Sentences

Democrats are already engaged in considerable soul-searching, as they come to grips with an election defeat that has delivered the White House, the Senate and, perhaps, the House of Representatives to Republican control.

From BBC

The next day, the shellshocked parents struggled to come to grips with the financial toll of the incident and the catastrophic sentimental loss.

From Los Angeles Times

Now as nations mourn and tributes pile up, as her work is praised, characterized and categorized, as we come to grips with the fact that we will never have a chance to see what she would have done next, we very much do.

From Los Angeles Times

I’m still trying to come to grips with the fact that thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies blew up simultaneously in Lebanon killing and injuring hundreds of people.

From Salon

It’s hard for me to come to grips with a lot of people being familiar with me.”

From Los Angeles Times