Groping

groping
    adj 1: acting with uncertainty or hesitance or lack of
           confidence; "a groping effort to understand"
    

Grope \Grope\ (gr[=o]p), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Groped}
   (gr[=o]pt); p. pr. & vb. n. {Groping}.] [OE. gropen, gropien,
   grapien, AS. gr[=a]pian to touch, grope, fr. gr[imac]pan to
   gripe. See {Gripe}.]
   1. To feel with or use the hands; to handle. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To search or attempt to find something in the dark, or, as
      a blind person, by feeling; to move about hesitatingly, as
      in darkness or obscurity; to feel one's way, as with the
      hands, when one can not see.
      [1913 Webster]

            We grope for the wall like the blind. --Is. lix. 10.
      [1913 Webster]

            To grope a little longer among the miseries and
            sensualities ot a worldly life.       --Buckminster.
      [1913 Webster]
    

54 Moby Thesaurus words for "groping":
      analytic, awkward, blankminded, callow, dumb, empty, empty-headed,
      examinational, examinatorial, examining, explorational,
      explorative, exploratory, fact-finding, feeling, gauche, green,
      heuristic, ignorant, inane, indagative, inexperienced, innocent,
      inspectional, inspectorial, investigational, investigative,
      investigatory, know-nothing, naive, nescient, raw, simple,
      strange to, tentative, testing, trying, unacquainted, unapprized,
      uncomprehending, unconversant, unenlightened, unfamiliar,
      unilluminated, uninformed, uninitiated, unintelligent, unknowing,
      unposted, unripe, unsure, unversed, vacuous, zetetic