stick to

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stick to (third-person singular simple present sticks to, present participle sticking to, simple past and past participle stuck to)

1. (idiomatic) To persist; to continue (to use, do, etc.)

   I have seen all the fancy electric toothbrushes, but I'm going to stick to the old-fashioned kind.

   If you stick to your studies, you will continue to improve.

   • 2006 [1979 November 9], Binyan Liu, “Listen Carefully to the Voice of the People”, in Kyna Rubin, Perry Link, transl., edited by Perry Link, Two Kinds of Truth: Stories and Reportage from China‎, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 34:

     When I did newspaper work in the 1950s I always found it hard to initiate criticism of a person. Now, in the late 1970s, I suddenly find it has become hard to praise a person. Take, for example, the case of Liu Jie, an inspector of the neighborhood registry in the Daxing’anling district of Heilongjiang, who was praised in the press for sticking to principles. She also had the support of the Provincial Party Committee. But it was precisely the commendation of the Party newspaper that brought calamity upon her, and the support of the provincial leadership was of no use in breaking the siege that befell her.

   • 2007, Amanda Lamb, Smotherhood: Wickedly Funny Confessions from the Early Years:

     What I get from work makes me a better mother, and what I get from being a mother makes me a better journalist. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

2. (idiomatic) To follow and remain close to.

   The suspect doubled back through an alley, but the detective stuck to him like glue.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stick,‎ to.

• stick to one's guns
• stick to one's knitting
• sticktoitiveness