"toehold" meaning in English

See toehold in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈtəʊhəʊld/ [UK] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-toehold.wav [Southern-England] Forms: toeholds [plural], toe-hold [alternative], toe hold [alternative]
Etymology: From toe + hold. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|toe|hold}} toe + hold Head templates: {{en-noun}} toehold (plural toeholds)
  1. (climbing) A foothold small enough to support just the toe.
    Sense id: en-toehold-en-noun-H-YeuEky Categories (other): Climbing, Entries with translation boxes, Terms with French translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 17 42 42 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 17 43 40 Topics: climbing, hobbies, lifestyle, sports
  2. (figurative, by extension) Any small advantage which allows one to make significant progress; a slight footing or foothold. Tags: broadly, figuratively Translations (Any small advantage): prise [feminine] (French), Ansatzpunkt [masculine] (German)
    Sense id: en-toehold-en-noun-UrCTz15w Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 23 43 34 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 17 42 42 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 13 56 31 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 19 49 32 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 17 43 40 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 17 51 33 Disambiguation of 'Any small advantage': 7 87 6
  3. (wrestling) A hold in which the aggressor bends back the opponent's foot.
    Sense id: en-toehold-en-noun-izLM96Ty Categories (other): Wrestling, Entries with translation boxes, Terms with French translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 17 42 42 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 17 43 40 Topics: government, hobbies, lifestyle, martial-arts, military, politics, sports, war, wrestling
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: foothold

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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  "etymology_text": "From toe + hold.",
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        "(climbing) A foothold small enough to support just the toe."
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        "hobbies",
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        "sports"
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          "ref": "1995, Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age […] , New York: Bantam Spectra, →ISBN, page 373:",
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          "text": "One in three \"adult-kids\" who have not left the parental nest say they are still living at home because they cannot afford to get a toehold on the property ladder by buying or renting.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
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          "ref": "2017 September 7, Ferdinand Mount, “Umbrageousness”, in London Review of Books:",
          "text": "Strachey argued that the Raj was bad for Britain and the British. In Inglorious Empire, Shashi Tharoor argues, with equal passion, that it was much worse for India and the Indians. In 1700, when the British were mere traders clinging on to a few coastal toeholds, the Emperor Aurangzeb ruled over a country that accounted for a quarter of the world’s economy.",
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          "progress"
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        [
          "slight",
          "slight"
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          "footing",
          "footing"
        ],
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          "foothold"
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        "(figurative, by extension) Any small advantage which allows one to make significant progress; a slight footing or foothold."
      ],
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        "figuratively"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "7 87 6",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "Any small advantage",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
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          "word": "prise"
        },
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          "_dis1": "7 87 6",
          "code": "de",
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          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "Any small advantage",
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        }
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          "foot"
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        "(wrestling) A hold in which the aggressor bends back the opponent's foot."
      ],
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        "martial-arts",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "sports",
        "war",
        "wrestling"
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      "ipa": "/ˈtəʊhəʊld/",
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        "A foothold small enough to support just the toe."
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        "(climbing) A foothold small enough to support just the toe."
      ],
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        "sports"
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          "text": "Strachey argued that the Raj was bad for Britain and the British. In Inglorious Empire, Shashi Tharoor argues, with equal passion, that it was much worse for India and the Indians. In 1700, when the British were mere traders clinging on to a few coastal toeholds, the Emperor Aurangzeb ruled over a country that accounted for a quarter of the world’s economy.",
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          "slight"
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          "footing",
          "footing"
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          "foothold"
        ]
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        "(figurative, by extension) Any small advantage which allows one to make significant progress; a slight footing or foothold."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hold in which the aggressor bends back the opponent's foot."
      ],
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        [
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          "wrestling#Noun"
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        [
          "hold",
          "hold"
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          "aggressor",
          "aggressor"
        ],
        [
          "foot",
          "foot"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(wrestling) A hold in which the aggressor bends back the opponent's foot."
      ],
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        "government",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "martial-arts",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "sports",
        "war",
        "wrestling"
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      "code": "fr",
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      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "Any small advantage",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "prise"
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      ],
      "word": "Ansatzpunkt"
    }
  ],
  "word": "toehold"
}

Download raw JSONL data for toehold meaning in English (4.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.