held

IPA/held/
KK[hˈɛld]IPA/held/

held — verb

  • heldpresent simple I / you / we / they
  • helds3rd person singular
  • helding-ing form
  • heldedpast simple

1. describes an action or state that occurred at an earlier time — held is both the

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

describes an action or state that occurred at an earlier time — held is both the past tense form and the past participle of the verb hold

Example

Mira held the umbrella over her grandmother's head while they walked.

past simple: held + direct object

The meeting was held in the library because the main hall was being repaired.

passive: be held + place phrase

Grammar Patterns

held + object

be held + adverbial

have/had held

Usage Note

Held is an irregular past form — it does not end in -ed. It serves as both the simple past (I held the door open) and the past participle (She has held that job for years). To form negatives and questions in simple past, use did not hold / Did ... hold?, since held is already in past form.

Common Mistakes

He holded the trophy tight.
He held the trophy tight.
hold is irregular; do not add -ed.
She has hold my hand before.
She has held my hand before.
after have/has, the past participle held is required, not the base form.

held — adjective

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Held, maintained, kept, retained, and preserved all describe something that remains in a particular condition, but they differ in scope and formality. Held is the broadest and most neutral — it applies to physical objects (held items), positions (held office), and intangible things (held breath, held beliefs). Kept is more casual and general, often implying personal care or storage ('She kept the letter in a drawer'). Maintained suggests active, ongoing effort to keep something at a standard ('The garden was maintained weekly'). Retained carries a sense of holding on despite pressure or change ('He retained his title after the match'). Preserved implies protecting something from decay or loss ('The documents were preserved in a climate-controlled room'). For everyday use, held is the simplest choice; retained and maintained sound more formal. Example: 'The held position required long hours' vs. 'The maintained equipment worked flawlessly' — choose based on whether the focus is on occupancy or active care.

maintained ↗kept ↗retained ↗preserved ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • held breath
  • held position
  • held items
  • held note
  • held beliefs
  • held view
  • held office
  • held opinion

Adverbs

  • firmly held
  • carefully held
  • tightly held

Phrases

  • held on file
  • held to account
  • held in reserve
  • held in good condition

Prepositions

  • held in
  • held by
  • held for

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Held is the past tense and past participle form of the verb hold. It comes from Old English healdan (to hold, keep, guard, possess). The past tense forms in Old English were heold (singular) and heoldon (plural). By the Middle English period, these had merged into the single form held(e), which became modern held. The adjective use (kept or maintained) developed from the past participle function — a natural shift where the participle came to describe the state of something after having been held.