hold one's own
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.31 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
1
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To demonstrate oneself to be capable; to provide a respectable performance or worthy competition; to stick up for oneself.
Example Sentences
- "At any rate, he was like John Bull in one respect: he was sturdy and square, and fit to hold his own with any man."
- "At the receptions […] Antonia could hold her own in a discussion with two or three men at a time."
- "If it came to blows, the younger man could not hope to hold his own with the huge policeman."
- "In his view, this eminent locomotive engineer had very decided opinions of his own, and was not afraid of putting them into practice; but a weakness lay in the fact that there was no one on his staff in a position sufficiently strong to hold his own with Stroudley in argument."
- "Charlie: Are you a good pilot? Maverick: I can hold my own."
- "But Ford, and Chrysler continued to hold their own against the latest competition from the Japanese."