Word.ws English Dictionary

holds over someone's head

holds over someone's head is the third-person singular simple present indicative of hold over someone's head.

Meaning of hold over someone's head

Verb

hold over someone's head (third-person singular simple present holds over someone's head, present participle holding over someone's head, simple past and past participle held over someone's head)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To harp on; to remind continuously (especially of a misstep or defeat).
    • I get one parking ticket and he holds it over my head for six months.

Questions about holds over someone's head

What is holds over someone's head the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Holds over someone's head is the third-person singular simple present indicative of hold over someone's head.

Words near holds over someone's head in the dictionary

  1. holds one's water
  2. holds oneself together
  3. holds onto
  4. holds out
  5. holds over
  6. holds over someone's head
  7. holds ransom
  8. holds short
  9. holds someone's feet to the fire
  10. holds someone's hand
  11. holds space

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holds over someone's head (page history and authors); hold over someone's head (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: “holds over someone's head.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/holds_over_someone%27s_head. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.