Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💪 To endure 🏗️ To support weight ⏳ To delay 🌟 To praise publicly 🔫 To rob
to hold up

to hold up

89 3.7
To show someone as an example to praise or admire
  • phrasal verb
  • /hoʊld ʌp/
translation icon : poner como ejemplo
  • Political scientists often hold it up as a model of successful social legislation.
  • hold up as an example
  • hold up as a model

I think you're seeing certain ones being held up in society right now.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The teacher held up the famous painting as an example of modern art.

  • And they still hold Barack Obama up like he is the next coming.

  • This is who they have held up as an icon for young black girls.

  • In many schools, "making the school choir" is a goal held up before the younger or less talented students.

    Academic text (1992)

  • And what Allison has done for us is really hold us up and all of our fine glory.

  • The Counter-Reformation revitalized the cult of Saint Joseph and held him up as a model for married men and fathers.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The athlete was held up as a role model for aspiring sports stars.

  • During the meeting, she held up her grandmother's letters to illustrate her point.

Synonyms

to look up to
vsto hold up
120 2.8

To respect and want to be like someone

presents someone publicly as an example praised rather than only admiring privately
to pedestal
vsto hold up
  • Informal
6.8

To admire someone too much and treat them as perfect

presents someone as an example praised but not necessarily idealized

Antonyms

to criticize
701 3.3

To say what is wrong with someone or something

to disparage
28 7.7

To speak badly about someone or something to show little respect

How Praised

to celebrate
201 2.1
to hold up
89 3.7
to praise
331 1.0
to cite
421 3.6

Surface Forms

hold up infinitive
holding up present participle
holds up third person singular
held up past
held up past participle

Morphology

hold + up

The meaning 'to rob (at gunpoint)' cannot be predicted from the literal senses of 'hold' and 'up' — there is no clear compositional relation that leads to 'rob'. The particle 'up' here contributes to an idiomatic phrasal-verb sense (distinct from literal senses like 'raise' or 'delay'), so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would very likely not infer the robbery meaning.

Etymology

Hold up may come from the simple image of lifting something so others can see it; a teacher might literally hold up a student's project for the class, so the phrase came to mean 'present as an example'.