How to Use get/have a handle on in a Sentence

get/have a handle on

idiom
Definition of get/have a handle onnext
  • In recent years, a number of states have tried to get a handle on the issue.
    — Emily Tate Sullivan, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2024
  • The best way to get a handle on this divine welter is to take a walking tour.
    — David Laskin Martin Pauer, New York Times, 1 May 2023
  • Nedeljkovic made 28 saves but couldn’t get a handle on Pelech's winner.
    — Will Graves, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2024
  • The slaying comes as cops try to get a handle on an uptick in murders and assaults in and around Times Square.
    — Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 9 July 2024
  • Most models have a handle on the top and rubber feet at the bottom to ensure a firm grip.
    — Belle Duchene, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Feb. 2024
  • Crews had the Basin fire 17% contained after days of being unable to get a handle on the fire.
    — Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2024
  • By then, the FBI was starting to get a handle on the extent of the problem — if not exactly what to do about it.
    — Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2024
  • The feeling that the Stars have a handle on things took a bad spill Sunday night when Heiskanen went down for far, far too long.
    — Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 8 May 2023
  • In recent years, several states have tried to get a handle on the issue.
    — Emily Tate Sullivan, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2024
  • How to get a handle on your finances after being let go from your job.
    — Ron Lieber, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023
  • As the summer begins, Bronx cops are trying to get a handle on an 8% jump in shootings in the borough this year.
    — Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 25 June 2024
  • But even the most tech-savvy person might struggle to get a handle on every detail.
    — Chelsea Leu, The Atlantic, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Towns around the state had tried various ways to get a handle on the issue, leading to a patchwork of efforts.
    — Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 29 July 2022
  • Public health officials are still trying to get a handle on the drug, as well as how best to respond to it.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Jan. 2023
  • New trade agreements to rectify this oversight are needed if the world is to get a handle on food prices.
    — Christopher B. Barrett, Foreign Affairs, 25 July 2022
  • It’s been a difficult condition to get a handle on, or treat.
    — Josh Fischman, Scientific American, 29 Mar. 2023
  • At the end of the series, so many of the other characters seem to have a handle on their own equations and are moving forward with their lives.
    — Vulture, 2 June 2023
  • As a result, governments struggle to get a handle on the real threats and risks already out there.
    — Marietje Schaake, Foreign Affairs, 13 Oct. 2020
  • In the letter, the church official was concerned something bad would happen if police did not get a handle on things.
    — Vincent Hill, Baltimore Sun, 26 July 2024
  • School districts are trying to get a handle on the technology.
    — Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2024
  • The leak will only up the stakes for Fulton County to get a handle on a cyberattack that has hobbled services for weeks.
    — Sean Lyngaas, CNN, 14 Feb. 2024
  • In parts of Portland, those ambitions have stalled as leaders try to get a handle on the mounting homeless crisis.
    — Gwozniac, oregonlive, 30 July 2023
  • Impossible to get a handle on with one lone visit — or six visits even.
    — Scott Hocker, theweek, 15 Apr. 2024
  • Also last month, a co-founder of Salt & Straw ice cream shops said the company would move its Southeast Portland headquarters out of state if the city didn’t get a handle on crime.
    — oregonlive, 4 Dec. 2022
  • The company has been scrambling to raise cash to get a handle on liabilities that totaled about $187 billion at the end of June.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 5 Sep. 2023
  • The good news is that the tide is turning and both businesses and investors are starting to get a handle on how to better support the recycling value chain.
    — Rob Kaplan, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2022
  • The best way to get a handle on this is to have a qualified professional do an energy audit.
    — Mark Philben, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Jan. 2022
  • Before anyone in the media or the music business could get a handle on it, a star was born out of left field — in his field, to be exact, in the town of North Dinwiddie, Virginia.
    — David Browne, Rolling Stone, 17 Nov. 2023
  • But now, there’s a new term—and generation—to get a handle on: The honey badger generation.
    — Beth Ann Mayer, Parents, 26 Jan. 2024
  • Delta culled its schedule in July and into August and is planning to hold off on additional growth for the rest of the year in an effort to get a handle on its problems.
    — Alison Sider, WSJ, 13 July 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'get/have a handle on.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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