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hold a grudge



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Idioms and Phrases

see bear a grudge .
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

I’m like, “Life’s too f— short, man — I ain’t trying to hold a grudge on you.”

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Considering all that, I suppose it's not a big surprise that Trump would still hold a grudge and give Trudeau a hard time when he became president again.

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Laver, the only man to win all four majors in one year during the Open era, described Stolle as "too nice a guy to hold a grudge".

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These states hold a grudge against the latter group and resent the fact that they must treat these children with equal dignity.

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Nick Young appears to still hold a grudge against ex-Lakers teammate D’Angelo Russell after Russell secretly recorded Young discussing women other than then-fiancĂ©e Iggy Azalea in 2016.

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More About Hold A Grudge

What doesÌęhold a grudge mean?

To hold a grudge is to have and maintain a feeling of anger, bitterness, or resentment toward someone for something they did, especially a wrong that you think they committed against you.

The word grudge is typically used to refer to such a feeling when it has been held for a long period of time—often longer than is considered normal.

For that reason, grudge is often used in phrases like hold a grudge and others that mean the same thing, including nurse a grudge, bear a grudge, and harbor a grudge.Ìę

Grudges are usually directed toward people, but a person can hold a grudge against a group or an entity like a company or organization. The word grudge is often followed by the word against and whom or what the grudge is directed toward, as in Your father still holds a grudge against that pizzeria for getting his order wrong that one time.Ìę

Example: She has held a grudge against me ever since I beat her in the spelling bee in fifth grade.

Where doesÌęhold a grudge come from?

The phrase hold a grudge has been used since at least the early 1900s. The first records of the word grudge come from the 1400s. It comes from the Old French grouchier, which means “to grumble” and is also the basis of the word grouch. Grudge is probably related to the Middle High German word grogezen, meaning “to complain, cry out.”

When a person holds a grudge, it’s often due to treatment or an action that’s considered unforgivable by the person holding the grudge. Usually this involves a personal slight (or perceived personal slight), but a person can hold a grudge against someone they don’t even know. A lot of grudges are held for petty reasons, including things that the supposed wrongdoer doesn’t even know that they did. The opposite of holding a grudge can be thought of as forgiving and forgetting (or letting it go).

Did you know ... ?

What are some synonyms for hold a grudge?

What are some words that share a root or word element with hold a grudge?Ìę

What are some words that often get used in discussing hold a grudge?

How isÌęhold a grudge used in real life?

People are known to hold a grudge for all kinds of reasons.

Ìę

Try usingÌęhold a grudge!

Is hold a grudge used correctly in the following sentence?

Do you really still hold a grudge against me for eating your doughnut seven years ago?

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American HeritageŸ Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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