taking hold

phrase

present participle of take hold
as in working
to produce a desired effect It was clear in the students' essays that her lessons had taken hold.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of taking hold Its purpose is to help eliminate malignant cells that may remain after surgery, reducing the chance of another tumor taking hold. — Mike McRae 25, New Atlas, 26 Oct. 2026 Elsewhere, the covid pandemic was just taking hold, and would soon make extended isolation a strange new experience for billions of people. — Jordan Salama, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026 The parallel society Phillips warned about may already be taking hold. — Tyler Speicher, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026 Starbucks' turnaround gains traction with consumers New consumer data offered encouraging evidence that the Starbucks turnaround is, indeed, taking hold. — Alexa Lomonaco, CNBC, 10 Oct. 2026 The story of the fourth record is of of the Attractions sort of taking hold of those songs and us just going berserk within six months. — Chris Willman, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026 This cycle is taking hold just as Brazilian resources, exports, and investments are becoming more valuable to the rest of the world, which is the moment when the country’s leverage should be growing rather than declining. — Matias Spektor, Foreign Affairs, 2 Oct. 2026 Few are measuring whether that vision is actually taking hold. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2026 That effect is taking hold in prestige, too, with Circana data showing e-commerce is the biggest channel for prestige skin care and accounts for nearly half of total prestige beauty sales Stateside. — Noor Lobad, Footwear News, 8 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for taking hold
taking effect
Phrase
  • Their political advancement is a sign that the Kremlin’s Time of Heroes program, which supports soldiers returning from the front lines, is taking effect.
    — Tim Backshall, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Nov. 2026
  • The funding is also going toward supporting two competing measures, Propositions 41 and 42, which would place limits on special taxes and could prevent the billionaire tax from taking effect if either receives more votes than Prop 40.
    — Senior Editor, CBS News, 3 Nov. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Taking hold.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/taking%20hold. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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