hold one's nerve

verb

To stay calm facing nervousness.

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Meanings

verbhold one's nerve (third-person singular simple present holds one's nerve, present participle holding one's nerve, simple past and past participle held one's nerve)

present singular third person holds one's nerve · participle present holding one's nerve · participle past held one's nerve · past held one's nerve

  1. idiomaticintransitiveTo stay calm facing nervousness.

    She held her nerve after failing to serve out the match at the first attempt, seeing three match points slip by in a nervous service game at 6-4 5-4 and recovering from losing the tie-break to dominate the decider.

    2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, in BBC Sport
Cite this entry
APA

hold one's nerve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20nerve

MLA

“hold one's nerve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20nerve. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hold one's nerve,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20nerve.

Source: hold one's nerve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.