Showing Results for "held"

See Also:

• past participle of hold.
• past tense form of hold.

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• held
  held

  verb

  simple past tense and a past participle of hold.
• Held
  Held

  noun

  John, Jr., 1889–1958, U.S. cartoonist, illustrator, and writer.

held

¹ American  

[held] / hɛld /

verb

1. simple past tense and a past participle of hold.

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Held ² American  

[held] / hɛld /

noun

1. John, Jr., 1889–1958, U.S. cartoonist, illustrator, and writer.

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held British  

/ hɛld /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of hold 1

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unheld
  adjective

Explanation

Anything that's held is controlled or kept by someone (or something). A city, for example, might be held by an attacking army. A rebel-held town is occupied by an invading group of rebels, and a Republican-held government is controlled by that particular political party. When Americans win so many medals in the Olympics that they break a world record, you might hear it described as a US-held record. Held comes from the Old English haldan, "to possess, contain, or rule."

Example Sentences

SpaceX is among the most widely held investments across colleges and universities, endowment executives say, likely making the rocket company’s coming IPO one of the great windfalls for American endowments.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

I haven’t, however, ever needed to rent clothes and nor have I attended an Indian wedding that was actually held in India.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026

In this Money Talks: Author and financial journalist Brendan Greeley tells Elizabeth Spiers about his new book, The Almighty Dollar—and the astonishing power this currency held long before the founding of the United States.

From Slate • Jun. 9, 2026

Talks held among European commissioners on protecting critical industries from Chinese rivals will feed further discussions at the G7 heads of state meeting in France and an EU leaders' summit in Brussels this month.

From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026

His answer came as a squirrel plucked another barb from the porcupine’s back and held it like a javelin, poised to spear through Clare’s undead heart.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman