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Glite Dictionary
🌱 Becoming established ✊ A firm grip
taking hold

taking hold

18 3.9
A process in which an idea or habit starts to be accepted by many people
  • noun
translation icon : arraigo
  • Efforts to clean up the cities and towns have taken hold at the grassroots level.
  • really take hold
  • began to take hold
  • democracy took hold

Examples

  • Through true competition, multiple candidates, and secret ballots, democracy is taking hold throughout hundreds of thousands of China's villages.

    Academic text (1999)

  • I've noticed a theme that's starting to take hold and take shape in these podcasts.

  • But by and large, this process is just beginning to take hold in America.

  • So when did you first sense that your simple methods were starting to take hold and it was starting to get buy in?

  • A return to an emphasis on the musical is taking hold in music education today.

    Academic text (1993)

  • The ideal of an egalitarian society with broad economic security took hold as an object of national pride.

    Academic text (2008)

  • During the Reagan era, reforms really began to take hold, and economic and social changes sprang to life.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The new policy is taking hold, significantly improving employee morale and productivity.

  • In recent years, his innovative teaching methods have taken hold in many schools across the country.

  • The trend of remote working is taking hold, changing how companies operate worldwide.

Synonyms

adoption
vstaking hold
152 3.5

Starting to use a new idea or way of doing things

is a longer process that leads to something becoming established and effective
uptake
vstaking hold
5 4.2

People begin to use a new idea or technology

is about an idea becoming established and starting to have a clear effect
take-up
vstaking hold
  • UK
1 4.1

How many people and how quickly they start to use something

is focused on the full process of becoming established and having clear effect

Antonyms

rejection
180 3.0

Not being accepted by people or a group

fading
1 3.0

A slow loss of strength, color, or sound over time

How Established

entrenchment
1 7.4
to take root
6 4.0
taking hold
18 3.9
emerging
3 4.1

Surface Forms

taking hold singular
takings hold plural

Morphology

taking + hold

The meaning derives from the literal image of 'taking' and 'hold' (grasping) but is extended metaphorically to mean something becoming established or gaining influence; learners who know the words can partially infer a sense of 'grasping' or 'getting control' but not necessarily the abstract sense of an idea becoming accepted. This metaphorical extension is common cross-linguistically, so the expression is predictable to a degree but not fully compositional.

Etymology

Taking hold is often pictured like roots or a plant grabbing the soil. One popular image is a plant's roots taking a hold in the earth so the plant can stand firm, and that's why the phrase means 'becoming established'.