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hold

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Cause to continue in a certain state, position.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

hohld
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhoʊld

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. heading

    Cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., `keep clean'

  2. heading

    Maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)

  3. heading

    To maintain or keep to a position or state.

  4. transitive

    To grasp or grip.

  5. transitive

    To contain or store.

  6. Have rightfully; of rights, titles, and offices

noun

  1. An act or instance of holding.

  2. A grasp or grip.

  3. A place where animals are held for safety

  4. An order that something is to be reserved or delayed, limiting or preventing how it can be dealt with.

  5. The ability to persist.

  6. The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., `keep clean'

Used this way, hold is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use hold

  • “Hold this bowl for a moment, please.”verb
  • “This holds the local until the express passengers change trains.”verb
  • “The beam holds up the roof.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

hold back

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • holdernounInflected form

    A holding device.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • hold-downnounCompound term

    A limitation or constraint.

  • hold backverbCompound term

    Hold back, as of a danger or an enemy.

  • hold closeverbCompound term

    Hold firmly, usually with one's hands.

  • hold dearverbCompound term

    Be fond of.

  • hold fastverbCompound term

    Stick to firmly.

  • hold firmverbCompound term

    Refuse to abandon one's opinion or belief.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

verb

Sense: cause to continue in a certain state or position

takecarryhandlegripclenchprevail

noun

Sense: act or instance of holding

griparrest

Antonyms

verb

Sense: cause to continue in a certain state or position

release

noun

Sense: act or instance of holding

release

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.