hold fast
verb
Simple meaning
To stubbornly resist assault, pressure or opposition, either physically or mentally.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hohldfastSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhoʊldˈfæst
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
idiomatic
To stubbornly resist assault, pressure or opposition, either physically or mentally.
nautical
A formal command to a ship's crew to grasp and hold on to a solid fitting, such as ropes or rails, to avoid being swept overboard, especially during a storm.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To stubbornly resist assault, pressure or opposition, either physically or mentally.
Used this way, hold fast is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.