holding pattern

American  

noun

1. a traffic pattern for aircraft at a specified location holding point where they are ordered to remain until permitted to land or proceed.

2. a state or period in which no progress or change is made or planned.

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holding pattern British  

noun

1. the oval or circular path of an aircraft flying around an airport awaiting permission to land

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Etymology

Origin of holding pattern

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

holding pattern

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and his seemingly supernatural competence at both city management and marketing, has laid a blueprint for kitchen-table progressives looking to bust out of the Trump-era holding pattern.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

Many of the software startups that launched in the early 2010s, Medina said, aren’t growing fast enough to elicit any real interest from public-market investors, putting them in a holding pattern.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

He said they were in a holding pattern for about 15 minutes.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

For now, prices are “in a holding pattern, waiting to see if the extra reserves pumped into the market run out before the patience of the warring parties,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026

It wasn’t until the third holding pattern southwest of Kennedy Airport that Klotz told ATC that he didn’t think the plane had enough fuel to reach an alternative airport.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell