What does holding mean?

Definitions for holding
ˈhoʊl dɪŋhold·ing

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word holding.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. retention, keeping, holdingnoun

    the act of retaining something

  2. property, belongings, holdingnoun

    something owned; any tangible or intangible possession that is owned by someone

    "that hat is my property"; "he is a man of property";

Wiktionary

  1. holdingnoun

    Something that one owns, especially stocks and bonds.

  2. holdingnoun

    A determination of law made by a court.

  3. holdingnoun

    A tenure; a farm or other estate held of another.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Holdingnoun

    Etymology: from hold.

    Holdings were so plentiful, and holders so scarce, as well was the landlord who could not get a tenant. Carew.

    The holding every man shall beat as loud
    As his strong sides can volly. William Shakespeare, Ant. and Cleopatra.

ChatGPT

  1. holding

    Holding typically refers to the physical act of grasping or gripping an object or keeping something firmly in one's possession or control. It can also refer to having an ownership or legal rights over a property, asset, or investment for a certain period of time. Additionally, holding can depict maintaining a certain posture, position, or attitude, especially for a prolonged period.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Holding

    of Hold

  2. Holdingnoun

    the act or state of sustaining, grasping, or retaining

  3. Holdingnoun

    a tenure; a farm or other estate held of another

  4. Holdingnoun

    that which holds, binds, or influences

  5. Holdingnoun

    the burden or chorus of a song

Wikidata

  1. Holding

    The holding is a court's determination of a matter of law based on the issue presented in the particular case. In other words: under this law, with these facts, this result.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. HOLDING

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Holding is ranked #18614 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Holding surname appeared 1,479 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Holding.

    86.3% or 1,277 total occurrences were White.
    7.6% or 113 total occurrences were Black.
    2.3% or 35 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.5% or 23 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    1.4% or 22 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.6% or 9 total occurrences were Asian.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'holding' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1433

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'holding' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2036

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'holding' in Nouns Frequency: #1985

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce holding?

How to say holding in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of holding in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of holding in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of holding in a Sentence

  1. Doug Lieb:

    The heart of the case will now be moving ahead. Mr. Cieszkowski looks forward to holding Mr. Baldwin accountable in court.

  2. Harold Cabunoc:

    We are also calling on our brothers in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that if indeed they are still holding some of the PNP (Philippine National Police) personnel, they must respect their rights and they must be returned to their mother units and ultimately to their family members.

  3. Barack Obama:

    I am reaffirming that the United States government will not make concessions, such as paying ransom, to terrorist groups holding American hostages, I firmly believe that the United States government paying ransom to terrorists risks endangering more Americans and funding the very terrorism that we're trying to stop. And so I firmly believe that our policy ultimately puts fewer Americans at risk.

  4. Enbridge Inc -LRB- ENB.TO -RRB-:

    Under the newly changed FERC tax policy, holding certain interstate pipelines in MLP structures is highly unfavorable to unitholders and is no longer advantageous.

  5. Ukraine Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin:

    Security first, without security we can't deliver on anything further, the proposal to call on the sides at today's meeting to agree based on the Minsk documents on holding local elections in Donbass in the first half of the year by June or July came from our German and French colleagues.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

holding#1#3123#10000

Translations for holding

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"holding." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 16 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/holding>.

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