holding pattern
1
5.1
- noun
- /ˈhoʊldɪŋ ˈpætərn/
:
situación de espera
- But when you are stuck in a holding pattern, you need that clarity to set you free.
OK, they're all they're all in a holding pattern.
- OK, they're all they're all in a holding pattern.
- You know, we are really in this holding pattern now.
- But when you are stuck in a holding pattern, you need that clarity to set you free.
- Well, sadly, we're in a holding pattern.
- And so you're stuck in this holding pattern because it's so important for you to learn this lesson before you can graduate to the next level.
- Now, I would say holding cash is a passive way of, of, of of a holding pattern, right?
Examples
-
And outside, in the crowded bay beyond the x-ray machines: couples trapped in farewell holding patterns, wearing travel outfits and travel hairdos and lip gloss, the women smudgy, the men guarding goodbye erections.
Fiction book (2001) -
While we gather more data, let's remain in a holding pattern to avoid making hasty decisions.
-
We entered into a kind of holding pattern to get us through the weekend, to get us through until we could know for sure.
Fiction book (2001) -
She's breaking our holding pattern.
-
Mb21: I really do think it's a holding pattern and a lack of talent.
Blog text (10) -
And so you're stuck in this holding pattern because it's so important for you to learn this lesson before you can graduate to the next level.
-
Things had changed a lot since the bad old days when at some time in every twenty-four hours you had to lie down in a darkened room and let your mind go into a holding pattern for eight or so hours.
Fiction book (1999) -
It was more that we were in a holding pattern with each of us staking out territory, not unlike the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Fiction book (2000) -
He was in a holding pattern, that’s what he said, but he wasn’t holding on to us; that much was certain.
Fiction book (2000) -
It was like I was in a holding pattern, caught in a mix of goodbyes and what-ifs, wondering if New York would be as devastated as New Orleans.
Blog text (22)
Synonyms
565
1.0
Time spent staying in one place while expecting someone or something
276
2.0
A time when something is paused or delayed
35
3.5
A time when movement or activity stops completely
20
3.8
A delay that stops something from moving forward
11
4.7
A situation where people wait to see what others do to gain an advantage
Antonyms
How Stalled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'holding' (keeping or maintaining) and 'pattern' (a repeated arrangement or routine) give a partial clue: a repeated state of maintaining or waiting. However, the specific idiomatic sense of being stuck with no progress (from the aviation term for circling while waiting) is a metaphorical extension that a B1 learner may not fully predict from the constituents alone.
Etymology
Holding pattern is used for situations where nothing moves or decisions are delayed. The image is a plane circling and 'waiting' to land, so the phrase means a state of 'no progress'.