Meanings
present singular third person holds firm · participle present holding firm · participle past held firm · past held firm
- idiomaticintransitiveTo keep to a conviction, practice, etc., unwaveringly.
1 more example
.... the depressed person's emotional agony had so completely overwhelmed her... that whenever a member of her Support System finally said that she was dreadfully sorry but she absolutely had to get off the telephone, the primal instinct for sheer emotional survival now drove the depressed person to... beg shamelessly for two or even just one more minute of the friend's time and attention, and - if the "supportive friend" held firm and terminated the conversation - to spend now hardly any time listening dully to the dial tone....
1998 January, David Foster Wallace, “The Depressed Person”, in Harpers Magazine, page 63Synonyms: hold fast, stand fast, stand firm, hold one's ground, stand one's ground
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo keep to a conviction, practice, etc., unwaveringly.
More synonyms by meaning
verbrefuse to abandon one's opinion or belief
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Polish nie ustępować, nie ustąpić
- nie ustępowaćto keep to a conviction, practice, etc., unwaveringly
- nie ustąpićto keep to a conviction, practice, etc., unwaveringly
Spanish mantenerse firme, aferrarse a
- mantenerse firmeto keep to a conviction, practice, etc., unwaveringly
- aferrarse ato keep to a conviction, practice, etc., unwaveringly
Cite this entry
hold firm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20firm
“hold firm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20firm. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hold firm,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20firm.
Source: hold firm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.