What Does "Get a Grip" Mean?  Article Details   • Written By: N.
Madison   • Edited By: Jenn Walker   • Last Modified Date: 02
August 2014   • Copyright Protected:     Conjecture Corporation
• Print this Article  The phrase "get a grip" is another way of
saying "calm down" in the sense of taking control of one's
feelings. Sometimes a person also uses it to mean "get back to
reality" when the person he or she is speaking to is saying
things that seem unrealistic or behaving in an irrational
manner. The phrase does not mean to actually take a physical
grip of something. Instead, it is an idiom — a phrase used to
express a thought using words that are not meant to be taken
literally.  If a person wants to calm another party, he may
simply say "calm down" or even "relax." He does not have to use
this type of wording to express his thought, however. There are
many ways he can choose to say the same thing, and one of them
is the phrase "get a grip." It usually means to calm down or get
in better control of one's