WordVale

hold up

to delay; to remain valid

In Phrasal Verbs

In more detail

1. (phrasal verb) to stop or pause something; to delay

2. (phrasal verb) to rob someone, especially at gunpoint

3. (phrasal verb) to remain strong or last without breaking or failing

Examples

• 1. Hold up—I need to tie my shoe before we leave.
• 2. The bank was held up by three armed robbers yesterday.
• 3. This old car has held up well despite its age.

How to use hold up

Hold up functions as a versatile phrasal verb with distinct contexts: it means to pause or delay (most common in everyday speech), to rob someone at gunpoint (typically criminal context), or to withstand stress or time (often about durability or resilience). The meaning is usually clear from context, though the robbery sense is primarily used in narrative or news contexts.

Common phrases

• hold up traffic
• hold up well
• hold up a bank
• hold up under pressure
• hold up the line

Synonyms

stop · pause · delay · rob · endure

Opposites

proceed · continue · collapse

A common mistake

Learners sometimes confuse the different meanings and fail to recognize from context whether hold up refers to delay, robbery, or resilience; also, some treat it as separable when the object is a noun without the preposition between the verb and particle.

Nearby in Phrasal Verbs

get around, hand out, hinge on, keep on, lash out, level off

Keep going

How to remember the words you read · Spaced repetition, explained