take hold

idiomatic phrase

1

: to grasp, grip, or seize something

took hold and hung on tight

—often used with of

take hold of the railing

… she took hold of his arm with both her hands, and looked up eagerly—oh, with such terrible eagerness!—into his face.

—Anthony Trollope

—often used figuratively

As word of the subpoenas spread … confusion and hysteria took hold of the social set …

—Bob Colacello

I did not want Merlin to retire from the job until I was ready to take hold of it effectively myself …

—Mark Twain

2

: to become effective, established, or popular

The change in the law has not yet taken hold.

… a swath of land that has been spared from lava flows long enough that rich vegetation has had a chance to take hold.

—G. Brad Lewis

… here in central California the French aesthetic has recently taken hold.

—Rebecca Coffey

Examples of take hold in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The biggest, richest, most powerful clubs — the ones that will inevitably be the main beneficiaries if this takes hold — are making far more money than ever before. —Oliver Kay, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2025

Something stirs beneath the surface as this mystifying energy takes hold, inviting us to explore the shadows, confront the truth and rise into transformation. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 22 Oct. 2025

The proposal was an eerie echo of a practice adopted in 1950, as McCarthyism took hold. —Time, 20 Oct. 2025

Farmers have very little influence over which microbes take hold, resulting in flavor variations between batches and regions. —New Atlas, 18 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1530, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for take hold

• copyhold
• decontrolled
• hundredfold
• manifold
• marigold
• oversold
• petioled
• sevenfold
• stranglehold
• subthreshold
• thousandfold
• uncontrolled