as in to survive
to continue to operate or to meet one's needs
we hoped our supply of firewood would hold out until power was restored luckily, the old outboard motor held out till we made it to shore
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hold out
Gaudette doesn’t hold out much hope any festival — including his native TIFF — would ever play this movie.
—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
17 June 2026
Some fans held out flags of the current Islamic Republic, while others displayed lion flags from the pre-revolutionary period.
—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
16 June 2026
The experiment was run many times in several variations, and Mischel and others returned to it in longitudinal studies to see how the children who had held out for two marshmallows at age 3 fared at age 13 or 30.
—
Ian Bogost,
The Atlantic,
16 June 2026
Bill stutters an affirmative response that captures every man who has held out irrational hope that a woman will return to him.
—
Stephen Rodrick,
Rolling Stone,
16 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for hold out
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
17 June 2026
Some fans held out flags of the current Islamic Republic, while others displayed lion flags from the pre-revolutionary period.
—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
16 June 2026
The experiment was run many times in several variations, and Mischel and others returned to it in longitudinal studies to see how the children who had held out for two marshmallows at age 3 fared at age 13 or 30.
—
Ian Bogost,
The Atlantic,
16 June 2026
Bill stutters an affirmative response that captures every man who has held out irrational hope that a woman will return to him.
—
Stephen Rodrick,
Rolling Stone,
16 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for hold out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hold out
Verb
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Hinkley was killed, and Fox survived with serious injuries in the incident, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol.
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After many of Jaehaerys’ 13 children died, Aemon Targaryen was the first of his children to survive into adulthood and would have been Jaehaerys’ heir, had Aemon not died before him.
Verb
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The quake was also strongly felt in other central and western states, where residents described prolonged shaking that lasted several seconds.
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Anderson’s timeline had the bath lasting for about three hours.
Verb
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Argentina prevailed 2-0 and clinched its spot in the Group of 32 while Austria still has work to do.
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Hsueh said that gold prices became more firmly wedded to the outlook for Fed rate policy starting around the the middle of May, and less tied to the correlation to energy prices that had prevailed since the start of the Iran war.
Cite this Entry
“Hold out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hold%20out. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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