took hold

phrase

past tense of take hold
as in worked
to produce a desired effect It was clear in the students' essays that her lessons had taken hold.

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of took hold When no one came forward to claim Rowdy, and with the team already having considered a shop dog in the past, the idea of Rowdy living permanently at 23XI took hold. Jordan Bianchi, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026 Cassyd wasn’t keen on the idea of his TV academy handing out awards, but the notion soon took hold and the first Emmys (with awards just for Los Angeles TV stations) took place in 1949. Michael Schneider, Variety, 18 Aug. 2026 The heaviest fighting has subsided since a ceasefire in the more than two-year war took hold in October. ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026 The tradition took hold in 1963, when a young musician later known as Screaming Lord Sutch stood in a by-election. Reagan Yip, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026 As QAnon conspiracy theories took hold with people from around the world and tensions around policies to prevent the spread of Covid reached a boiling point, this previously unknown woman became the unlikely answer some in Canada were searching for. Zander Sherman, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2026 Dubbed the White Wings, the sanitation workers sported white pith helmets and uniforms not unlike the lab coats that doctors began to don in the 1880s as germ theory took hold and antiseptics became associated with health. Rana Mitter, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026 The real questions are why the ideology took hold after 1970 and whether current conditions will foster it--or exterminate it. Steve Denning, Forbes.com, 3 Aug. 2026 An undercurrent took hold of the children, and only the 11-year-old girl was able to escape the water, The New York Times reported. Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 1 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for took hold
took effect
Phrase
  • Citi said Moutai may have been incentivized to shift some inventory supply from the second quarter to the third, when the Mid-Autumn Festival falls, to capture the full benefit of its second round of price hikes, which took effect on July 18.
    Evelyn Cheng,Jenny Lee, CNBC, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The state's Low THC Oil Registry had 36,703 patients when the law took effect.
    Madeline Montgomery, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Took hold.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/took%20hold. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster