Word.ws English Dictionary

holding forth

holding forth is the present participle and gerund of hold forth.

Meaning of hold forth

Verb

hold forth (third-person singular simple present holds forth, present participle holding forth, simple past and past participle held forth)

  1. (transitive) To extend or offer, propose.
  2. (intransitive) To talk at great length.
    • I bestrode the courtroom entranceway, holding forth on my merits to the assembled press.
    Synonyms:
    expatiate, harangue

Questions about holding forth

What is holding forth the present participle and gerund of?
Holding forth is the present participle and gerund of hold forth.

Words near holding forth in the dictionary

  1. holding down the fort
  2. holding fast
  3. holding fire
  4. holding firm
  5. holding for ransom
  6. holding forth
  7. holding good
  8. holding hostage
  9. holding in
  10. holding in contempt
  11. holding in derision

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holding forth (page history and authors); hold forth (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “holding forth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/holding_forth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.