UPHOLD (upheld)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: upheld   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does uphold mean? 

• UPHOLD (verb)
  The verb UPHOLD has 3 senses:

1. keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

2. stand up for; stick up for; of causes, principles, or ideals

3. support against an opponent

  Familiarity information: UPHOLD used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UPHOLD (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they uphold    ... he / she / it upholds   
Past simple: upheld   
Past participle: upheld   
-ing form: upholding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold

Context example:

Carry on the old traditions

Hypernyms (to "uphold" is one way to...):

hold; keep; maintain (cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., 'keep clean')

Verb group:

continue; go forward; proceed (move ahead; travel onward in time or space)

continue; go along; go on; keep; proceed (continue a certain state, condition, or activity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "uphold"):

re-start; restart; resume (take up or begin anew)

hang in; hang on; hold on; persevere; persist (be persistent, refuse to stop)

perpetuate (cause to continue or prevail)

keep up; prolong; sustain (lengthen or extend in duration or space)

mummify (preserve while making lifeless)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

upholder (someone who upholds or maintains)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stand up for; stick up for; of causes, principles, or ideals

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "uphold" is one way to...):

defend; fend for; support (argue or speak in defense of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Support against an opponent

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

maintain; uphold

Context example:

The appellate court upheld the verdict

Hypernyms (to "uphold" is one way to...):

confirm; reassert (strengthen or make more firm)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "uphold"):

justify; vindicate (show to be right by providing justification or proof)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

upholder (someone who upholds or maintains)

 Context examples 

“It was a long way for him,” said I, “for he had nothing to uphold him on the journey.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And, mark my words, Mr. Rodney Stone, you should honour the King, love your country, and uphold the glorious British Constitution.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Were it not for this constableship which the Earl of Salisbury hath bestowed upon us we could scarce uphold the state which is fitting to our degree.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The storiettes at least kept the pot a-boiling and gave him time for ambitious work; while the one thing that upheld him was the forty dollars he had received from The White Mouse.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Environment Minister Sarney Filho will uphold that when the International Whaling Commission votes on the issue on 24 October in Slovenia.

(Brazil to support South Atlantic whale sanctuary bid, Agência BRASIL)

Theirs was the spirit which upheld Darwin among the gauchos of the Argentine or Wallace among the head-hunters of Malaya.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She could not speak, but she did 'hold on', and the warm grasp of the friendly human hand comforted her sore heart, and seemed to lead her nearer to the Divine arm which alone could uphold her in her trouble.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I served as assistant while he probed and cleansed the passages made by the bullets, and I saw the two men endure his crude surgery without anæsthetics and with no more to uphold them than a stiff tumbler of whisky.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Ere long, I became aware that some one was handling me; lifting me up and supporting me in a sitting posture, and that more tenderly than I had ever been raised or upheld before.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Then, of the younger men, Sir Thomas Percy of Northumberland, Sir Thomas Wake of Yorkshire, and Sir William Beauchamp of Gloucestershire, were finally selected to uphold the honor of England.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)