hang in

verb

hung in; hanging in; hangs in

intransitive verb

informal : to refuse to be discouraged or intimidated : to keep going, trying, or working in a difficult situation

… did not hang in long enough to win even a battle.

—Marvin E. Frankel

Hoping to hang in until some series he works on runs five years and makes him $50 million in syndication …

—Chris Chase

—often used in the phrase hang in there

If there was ever a mismatched couple it was this one, but the children begged them to hang in there.

—Joseph Wambaugh

If she hung in there long enough, he would change. It just took a lot of patience with a little reasoning.

—Gloria Naylor

Examples of hang in in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the Ballances were more than gallant warriors – in fact, a life-size oil painting of Marti’s great-grandfather Charles Ballance’s wife and children – including her grandfather Willis as a 3-year-old – hangs in a place of honor at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield. —Denise Crosby, Chicago Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026

But mail delivery to military ZIP codes across the Middle East has been indefinitely suspended as of April, and packages in transit now hang in limbo. —Christopher Cann, USA Today, 17 Apr. 2026

Here, the installation features multitudes of yicas hanging in an elliptical arrangement on the white surface of the wall, each produced by an individual member of the group. —María Carri, Artforum, 16 Apr. 2026

Throughout season two, rabid fans have started scrutinizing every corner of every scene for Easter eggs, which explains a recent viral post on X about a picture of a cat hanging in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s break room. —Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

hang in

verb

informal

: to refuse to be discouraged or frightened

Hang in there, kid! Don't quit.