Meanings
plural holding patterns
- aeronauticsA path taken by an aircraft waiting to land.
The plane flew in a holding pattern for half an hour because one runway was closed.
- idiomaticAny failure to advance; useless or unproductive activity.
This project is in a holding pattern until all the parts arrive.
1 more example
All of Sellafield is in a holding pattern, trying to keep waste safe until it can be consigned to the ultimate strongroom: the geological disposal facility (GDF), bored hundreds of metres into the Earth’s rock, a project that could cost another £53bn.
December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 等待航線 /等待航线, 原地踏步
- 等待航線 /等待航线path of aircraft
- 原地踏步 (yuándìtàbù)failure to advance
Czech vyčkávací obrazec
- vyčkávací obrazecpath of aircraft
Danish venteposition
- ventepositionpath of aircraft
Dutch wachtpatroon, wachtstand
- wachtpatroonpath of aircraft
- wachtstandfailure to advance
Finnish odotuskierros, odotuskuvio
- odotuskierrospath of aircraft
- odotuskuviopath of aircraft
- pito (olla pidossa)failure to advance
German Warteschleife
- Warteschleifepath of aircraft
Hungarian várakozási útvonal/kör/rendszer
- várakozási útvonal/kör/rendszerpath of aircraft
Cite this entry
holding pattern. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holding%20pattern
“holding pattern.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holding%20pattern. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “holding pattern,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holding%20pattern.
Source: holding pattern on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.