Word.ws English Dictionary

holds the cards

holds the cards is the third-person singular simple present indicative of hold the cards.

Meaning of hold the cards

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To be in a strong position, possessing significant advantages over someone else; to be in control of a situation involving multiple parties.
    • "[B]ut if you make conditions I have no choice but to accept them, seeing that you hold the cards."1907, R. Austin Freeman, chapter 14, in The Red Thumb Mark

Questions about holds the cards

What is holds the cards the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Holds the cards is the third-person singular simple present indicative of hold the cards.

Words near holds the cards in the dictionary

  1. holds still
  2. holds tack
  3. holds that thought
  4. holds the aces
  5. holds the book
  6. holds the cards
  7. holds the floor
  8. holds the line
  9. holds the phone
  10. holds the purse strings
  11. holds the reins

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holds the cards (page history and authors); hold the cards (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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