"get a handle on" meaning in All languages combined

See get a handle on on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: en-au-get a handle on.ogg [Australia] Forms: gets a handle on [present, singular, third-person], getting a handle on [participle, present], got a handle on [past], got a handle on [UK, participle, past], gotten a handle on [US, participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|get<,,got,got􂀿UK􂁀:gotten􂀿US􂁀> a handle on}} get a handle on (third-person singular simple present gets a handle on, present participle getting a handle on, simple past got a handle on, past participle (UK) got a handle on or (US) gotten a handle on)
  1. (informal) To build or acquire a basic level of understanding or control. Tags: informal Related terms: have a handle on
    Sense id: en-get_a_handle_on-en-verb-9KgPjqSk Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Download JSON data for get a handle on meaning in All languages combined (1.8kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gets a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "getting a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "got a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "got a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gotten a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "get<,,got,got􂀿UK􂁀:gotten􂀿US􂁀> a handle on"
      },
      "expansion": "get a handle on (third-person singular simple present gets a handle on, present participle getting a handle on, simple past got a handle on, past participle (UK) got a handle on or (US) gotten a handle on)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After a week of poring over the manuals, I am just beginning to get a handle on the software."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To build or acquire a basic level of understanding or control."
      ],
      "id": "en-get_a_handle_on-en-verb-9KgPjqSk",
      "links": [
        [
          "build",
          "build"
        ],
        [
          "acquire",
          "acquire"
        ],
        [
          "understanding",
          "understanding"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To build or acquire a basic level of understanding or control."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "have a handle on"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-get a handle on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f2/En-au-get_a_handle_on.ogg/En-au-get_a_handle_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/En-au-get_a_handle_on.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "get a handle on"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gets a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "getting a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "got a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "got a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gotten a handle on",
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "get<,,got,got􂀿UK􂁀:gotten􂀿US􂁀> a handle on"
      },
      "expansion": "get a handle on (third-person singular simple present gets a handle on, present participle getting a handle on, simple past got a handle on, past participle (UK) got a handle on or (US) gotten a handle on)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "have a handle on"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After a week of poring over the manuals, I am just beginning to get a handle on the software."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To build or acquire a basic level of understanding or control."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "build",
          "build"
        ],
        [
          "acquire",
          "acquire"
        ],
        [
          "understanding",
          "understanding"
        ],
        [
          "control",
          "control"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To build or acquire a basic level of understanding or control."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-get a handle on.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f2/En-au-get_a_handle_on.ogg/En-au-get_a_handle_on.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/En-au-get_a_handle_on.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "get a handle on"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.