Word.ws English Dictionary

underhold

underhold verb: to support or uphold, especially from beneath; sustain.

Verb

underhold (third-person singular simple present underholds, present participle underholding, simple past underheld, past participle underheld or underholden)

  1. To support or uphold, especially from beneath; sustain.
  2. To hold a note for a shorter duration than required.
  3. To hold (an infant or child) for less time than needed.

Noun

underhold (plural underholds)

  1. An unfair seizing of an opponent under the arms.
  2. An underhand grip, especially while hanging from a bar.

Synonyms of underhold

Antonyms

Forms of underhold

Verb
third-person singular presentunderholds
present participleunderholding
pastunderheld
past participleunderheld
past participleunderholden
Noun
pluralunderholds

Origin of underhold

From under- + hold. Compare German unterhalten (“to maintain”).

Questions about underhold

What does underhold mean?
Underhold means to support or uphold, especially from beneath; sustain.
What part of speech is underhold?
Underhold can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of underhold?
The past tense of underhold is underheld.

Words near underhold in the dictionary

  1. underhints
  2. underhit
  3. underhits
  4. underhitting
  5. underhive
  6. underhold
  7. underholding
  8. underholds
  9. underhole
  10. underholed
  11. underholes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: underhold (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underhold.wav.

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