handhold

noun

hand·​hold ˈhand-ˌhōld 

1

: hold, grip

2

: something to hold on to (as in mountain climbing)

Synonyms of handhold

• grip
• grasp

Examples of handhold in a Sentence

she tried to maintain her tight handhold on the umbrella as the wind picked up

Recent Examples on the Web

The other was the rescue of two women who cliffed out on the famous Via Ferrata in Telluride where there are cables and handholds along with iron rungs. —Alan Gionet, CBS News, 18 June 2026

In several photos and videos posted on social media, the 30-year-old can be seen descending the sheer face of the crater and gripping handholds while performing various acrobatic tricks before falling into the volcanic waters below. —Drew Pittock, USA Today, 15 June 2026

Like so many episodes of household violence, that night came to seem like a hallucination, a lurid memory of something that wasn’t connected to our life together and so would eventually, lacking any handhold, fade away. —Andrea Bajani, New Yorker, 7 June 2026

The rock wall offered no handholds, and the waves might easily have beaten us unconscious on the rocks. —Jim Hoagland, Outdoor Life, 30 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1643, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for handhold

• ahold
• behold
• billfold
• blindfold
• cajoled
• consoled
• controlled
• cotswold
• eightfold
• enfold
• enrolled
• extolled