beholden
adjective
Did you know?
To behold something is to perceive or gaze upon it—therefore, to be beholden is to be seen or observed, right? Not so fast! It’s true that behold and beholden share the same Old English roots, and also that beholden originated as the past participle of behold, whose original meaning was “to hold or retain.” But the two words weaved and wended their way down different paths into present-day English. Behold had settled into its “perceive, see” use by the 12th century. Meanwhile, beholden was called into duty as the “indebted, obligated” adjective we know today by the 14th century, as evidenced by its appearance in the Middle-English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In the ensuing years, beholden has continued to describe people who are obligated to others (often for a favor or gift), as well as people or things that are in figurative debt due to aid or inspiration, as in “many contemporary books and films are beholden to old Arthurian legends.”
Examples of beholden in a Sentence
Mercury News Editorial Board, Mercury News, 26 May 2026
Feldstein Soto said both of her challengers are financially beholden to special interests, pointing to McKinney’s Airbnb windfall money Roy has taken from a political action committee bankrolled by an organization whose attorneys often sue the city.
—Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2026
Xi may use the increasingly lopsided relationship between the two – with the Russian economy heavily beholden to China – to push for wins for Beijing in energy cooperation at time when conflict in the Middle East is squeezing Beijing’s access to crude oil.
—Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 20 May 2026
Being able to shave a half-hour or more off the usual running time is a function of being a streaming-only show that isn’t beholden to all the commercials of a network show.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 17 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for beholden
Cite this Entry
“Beholden.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beholden. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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beholden
adjective
