Meaning & use
grip and grin
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A posed moment in which two people shake hands and smile for cameras, usually with no real substance behind it.
Grammar: Countable: a grip and grin, two grip-and-grins.
Patterns
- a grip and grin with someone
The meeting was just a grip and grin for the cameras.
Voters wanted talks, not another grip and grin.
The senator did a quick grip and grin with the donors.
adjectivebefore a nouninformal
Describing an event or photo made for show, where people shake hands and smile but little is achieved.
Grammar: Hyphenated before a noun: a grip-and-grin photo.
Patterns
- a grip-and-grin event
It was a grip-and-grin photo with no policy.
The grip-and-grin session ended in ten minutes.
The grip-and-grin tour left locals unimpressed.
Word forms
| plural | grip and grins |
|---|
Common combinations
- a photo-op grip and grin
- It was a photo-op grip and grin.
- do a grip and grin
- They did a grip and grin and left.
- grip-and-grin session
- The grip-and-grin session lasted a minute.
- just a grip and grin
- The summit was just a grip and grin.
Synonyms and how they differ
- photo op
- Photo op is wider and can be any staged picture, not just a handshake.
- publicity stunt
- Publicity stunt suggests something more planned and showy.
- meet and greet
- Meet and greet is neutral and often friendly.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: grip and grin or grin and bear it?
grip and grin vs grin and bear it
Grin and bear it means to put up with a hardship cheerfully.
Practice
Critics called the summit a ___ because the leaders only posed for photographs.
Choose one answer.
A grip and grin is a staged handshake. The others are idioms with different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “grip and grin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.