Word.ws English Dictionary

holding in contempt

holding in contempt is the present participle and gerund of hold in contempt.

Meaning of hold in contempt

Verb

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

  1. To judge someone to have been in contempt of court.
    • The Meta chief was flanked by people wearing the Meta Ray-Ban artificial intelligence glasses, and the judge in the courtroom threatened to hold anyone recording with the devices in contempt.2026 February 18, Sanya Mansoor, “Zuckerberg grilled in landmark social media trial over teen mental health”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2026
  2. (figuratively) To consider someone unworthy of respect.

Questions about holding in contempt

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

Words near holding in contempt in the dictionary

  1. holding for ransom
  2. holding forth
  3. holding good
  4. holding hostage
  5. holding in
  6. holding in contempt
  7. holding in derision
  8. holding in hand
  9. holding it
  10. holding it down
  11. holding it in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holding in contempt (page history and authors); hold in contempt (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.

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