What's the difference between clinch and clutch?

Clinch


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly.
  • (v. t.) To set closely together; to close tightly; as, to clinch the teeth or the first.
  • (v. t.) To bend or turn over the point of (something that has been driven through an object), so that it will hold fast; as, to clinch a nail.
  • (v. t.) To make conclusive; to confirm; to establish; as, to clinch an argument.
  • (v. i.) To hold fast; to grasp something firmly; to seize or grasp one another.
  • (n.) The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip; a grasp; a clamp; a holdfast; as, to get a good clinch of an antagonist, or of a weapon; to secure anything by a clinch.
  • (n.) A pun.
  • (n.) A hitch or bend by which a rope is made fast to the ring of an anchor, or the breeching of a ship's gun to the ringbolts.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Turner was at a meeting last month where the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, clinched an agreement with the five biggest UK banks – Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered – to accept the G20 principles.
  • (2) When you score a hat trick in the first 16 minutes of a World Cup Final with tens of millions of people watching across the world, essentially ending the match and clinching the tournament before most players worked up a sweat or Japan had a chance to throw in the towel, your status as a sports legend is forever secure – and any favorable comparisons thrown your way are deserved.
  • (3) Negative slit smears for AFB from the nodules repeatedly and the histology of one on the skin nodules clinched the diagnosis of multicentric reticulohistiocytosis.
  • (4) Clegg first called for Murdoch to withdraw the bid on Monday, when Cameron had also said he thought Murdoch's priority should be to sort out malpractices in his company rather than trying to clinch what could eventually be a takeover costing roughly $15bn (£9.4bn).
  • (5) The cash-strapped HMV retail chain clinched a deal on Friday to sell its Waterstone's bookshops to the Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut for £53m.
  • (6) The Nevada senator aimed his fire in particular at McConnell, who threw his support behind Trump last week when it became all but certain that the real estate mogul had clinched the nomination.
  • (7) Add to that a dangerous nuclear deal with Iran (as Republicans and Israel’s government see it) and the apparent impotence in the face of Islamic State and the Afghanistan volte-face looks, to political foes at least , like clinching proof of serial failure by the commander-in-chief.
  • (8) It has clinched an association agreement with the European Union, as currently sought by the pro-western leaders who came to power in Ukraine after the removal of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych .
  • (9) These were supported closely watched by Pope Francis, who personally wrote to both leaders and hosted a crucial secret summit at the Vatican this autumn, which they credited with helping clinch the deal.
  • (10) John McCain took on George W Bush in 2000, before clinching the nomination in 2008.
  • (11) As the talks quickly broke down in Luxembourg, in Brussels, Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, promptly convened an emergency leaders’ summit on Monday evening, putting the onus on both Merkel and Tsipras as the two key leaders to bend towards concessions to clinch a deal.
  • (12) Three tendencies exist at present in the surgical management of lumbar osteochondrosis: orthopedic treatment aimed at stabilizing the vertebral segment (the procedure of choice being anterior total disectomy with vertebral intercorporal spondilodesis), neurosurgical treatment striving to decompress the nervous structures clinched by the disc, osteal growth, scars, and a combined management achieving both of the above purposes.
  • (13) Samaras is also expected to stress the importance of Greece clinching a primary surplus this year, as appears likely, as this will allow the government to offer some relief to lower-income Greeks.
  • (14) Those talks appeared to come close to clinching a historic deal but the talks broke up in early hours of 10 November, amid some acrimony over who was responsible for the failure.
  • (15) However, with the growing likelihood of a contested convention where no candidate receives the 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination, they have become vital affairs as campaigns claw for every possible delegate.
  • (16) The big surprise is that Ping failed to clinch the 36 votes needed for a second term.
  • (17) With the win, Carolina clinched both the NFC South title as well as the second seed in the conference, giving them a bye week and guaranteeing them home field advantage in their first postseason game.
  • (18) Aston Villa apparently brought at least 20,000 to Highbury on the day they clinched the 1980-81 title, while Manchester City had around 25,000 at St James' Park when they beat Newcastle to win the league in 1967-68.
  • (19) I’m not quite there yet.” In May, after Trump clinched the nomination, Ryan expressed similar ambivalence about the man who won his party’s support, saying: “I’m just not ready to do that at this point.
  • (20) He has also urged Mario Balotelli, who created the last-gasp, championship-clinching winner against Queens Park Rangers on Sunday, and Edin Dzeko, the scorer of the equaliser, to stay at City.

Clutch


Definition:

  • (n.) A gripe or clinching with, or as with, the fingers or claws; seizure; grasp.
  • (n.) The hands, claws, or talons, in the act of grasping firmly; -- often figuratively, for power, rapacity, or cruelty; as, to fall into the clutches of an adversary.
  • (n.) A device which is used for coupling shafting, etc., so as to transmit motion, and which may be disengaged at pleasure.
  • (n.) Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
  • (n.) The nest complement of eggs of a bird.
  • (n.) To seize, clasp, or gripe with the hand, hands, or claws; -- often figuratively; as, to clutch power.
  • (n.) To close tightly; to clinch.
  • (v. i.) To reach (at something) as if to grasp; to catch or snatch; -- often followed by at.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Damn that Beltran, what a clutch postseason performer.
  • (2) When Guillem was approached by French Vogue to be photographed seven years ago she was presented with a clutch of the world's best fashion photographers to choose from.
  • (3) "I have just seen a piece of straw flying over, which the hon lady is attempting to clutch at!"
  • (4) An average of 241,273 viewers gathered round the television (hospital bed) clutching the remote (bag of grapes) staring at the small screen (out of the window).
  • (5) Expecting defeat, but somehow clutching on to hope … Well, Frank [Skinner] and David [Baddiel] wrote that part of the lyrics, but the reason I got them in after the FA asked me to write a song was that I thought it was only worth making if it reflected how it feels to be a football fan.
  • (6) On arriving in Cyprus, Mike was the only person present to celebrate leaving the clutches of Egypt’s national airline.
  • (7) I’ve known them for over 10 years,” said Eugene Ward, 43, clutching a bag of water bottles and beer cans.
  • (8) Aston Villa goalkeeper intercepts and clutches the ball to his chest.
  • (9) Despite the absence of a comprehensive deal, a clutch of local agreements have been reached, the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) said in a report last June.
  • (10) We have rescued 26 children from the clutches of human traffickers in the past 20 days and sent them to rehabilitation centres,” said Sanjeev Kumar, a senior labour official in Bihar’s East Champaran district.
  • (11) When I flew to Salisbury shortly afterwards, the man in the next seat was clutching a thick polythene bag full of small metal objects.
  • (12) Wearing a white dress, black jacket and patent leather sandals, and clutching her mobile phone and keys, she could be on her way to an office in one of the capital's new skyscrapers, instead of walking past a patchwork of bean and sweet potato fields en route to the village's tin-roofed administration offices.
  • (13) Pilgrims from all over the world, many weeping and clutching precious mementos or photographs of loved ones, jostle beneath its soaring domes every day.
  • (14) With Ward-Prowse and Jay Rodriguez still missing, Koeman is reliant on a small clutch of attackers including Dusan Tadic, Sadio Mané, Shane Long, Steven Davis and Graziano Pellè.
  • (15) On return to their nests, the birds immediately resumed incubation and laid a second clutch of eggs after 5 days at which time the first clutch was removed.
  • (16) In his attempt to justify the unjustifiable, Mr Grieve has clutched at a fragile constitutional doctrine and adopted a deeply dubious legal course.
  • (17) A practical preventive measure would be to encourage manufacturers to equip machines with remotely located spring-opening clutches.
  • (18) But I am trying to claw the innocent joy of Halloween out of the cold, deadened clutches of the Zombie of Forced Sexiness.
  • (19) To describe this course of action as "clutching at straws" is to flatter it.
  • (20) Shara Proctor, who might have had hopes of gold while Okagbare busied herself with the 200m, managed only two steps of a run-up before clutching at her left thigh and leaving the arena with her hoodie pulled sorrowfully around her face.