Upheld

How to spell upheld

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce upheld

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does upheld mean?

1. verbMaintained, confirmed, or supported a decision, principle, or law against challenge.

Upheld in a sentence

• The appeal court upheld the original verdict after reviewing the evidence.

• The committee upheld the ban despite strong objections from members.

Where does upheld come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past tense and past participle of the verb 'uphold', a compound formed in Middle English from the native Old English elements 'up' and 'healdan', the verb meaning 'to hold, keep, or maintain'. The literal early sense was simply to hold something up or keep it raised aloft, but the figurative meaning, to support, confirm, or maintain something such as a law, decision, or tradition, developed early and became dominant. The irregular form 'upheld' mirrors the strong-verb pattern of 'hold' to 'held', since the simple verb 'hold' has carried the same vowel change since Old English times. Because the prefix 'up' fuses directly onto 'held' with no break, writers occasionally hesitate over whether it is one word, but it has been a single solid compound for centuries. The same 'healdan' root also gives us 'beholden' and the everyday 'hold' itself.

How the word is built

• up- (up, aloft)
• held (past tense of hold, from Old English healdan)