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holding pattern. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
holding pattern, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
holding pattern in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
holding pattern you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Noun
holding pattern (plural holding patterns)
- (aviation) A path taken by an aircraft waiting to land.
The plane flew in a holding pattern for half an hour because one runway was closed.
- (idiomatic) Any failure to advance; useless or unproductive activity.
This project is in a holding pattern until all the parts arrive.
December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian:All of Sellafield is in a holding pattern, trying to keep waste safe until it can be consigned to the ultimate strongroom: the geological disposal facility (GDF), bored hundreds of metres into the Earth’s rock, a project that could cost another £53bn.
Translations
failure to advance
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
- Dutch: wachtstand (nl) m
- Finnish: pito (fi) ("olla pidossa")
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