hold sway

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

hold sway

verb holds sway · holding sway · held sway

idiomatic To have the greatest influence (over someone or something); to be pre-eminent; to dominate. Within Lololand, of course, no Chinese writ runs, no Chinese magistrate holds sway, and the people, more or less divided among themselves, are under the government of their tribal chiefs.

Translations

Every language

verb to have the greatest influence (over someone or something) — see also dominate

Italiano	dominare
Русский	преобладать preobladatʹ

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"hold sway." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hold%20sway. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

hold sway. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hold%20sway

Chicago

"hold sway." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hold%20sway.

BibTeX

@misc{hold_sway_2026,
  title = {hold sway},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hold%20sway},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}