foothold
noun
foot·hold
ˈfu̇t-ˌhōld 
1
: a hold for the feet : footing
2
: a position usable as a base for further advance
The company secured a foothold in the market.
Examples of foothold in a Sentence
The army gained a foothold on the island.
The company has secured a foothold in the market.
Recent Examples on the Web
The Bruins gained a foothold in the second period.
—
Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
Flags, footprints and footholds There was no single Apollo mission that matched what Artemis 2 is going to do, but that's not the only difference between the moon missions of 50 years ago and today.
—Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com, 30 Mar. 2026
The technology is more common in Europe but finding a foothold in the United States as snowfall has become less reliable.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 27 Mar. 2026
The deal marks a a new East Bay foothold for OpenAI and arrives on the heels of the tech company’s lease of a top-notch Mountain View tech campus in recent weeks.
—George Avalos, Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for foothold
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
Flags, footprints and footholds There was no single Apollo mission that matched what Artemis 2 is going to do, but that's not the only difference between the moon missions of 50 years ago and today.
—Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com, 30 Mar. 2026
The technology is more common in Europe but finding a foothold in the United States as snowfall has become less reliable.
—Evan Bush, NBC news, 27 Mar. 2026
The deal marks a a new East Bay foothold for OpenAI and arrives on the heels of the tech company’s lease of a top-notch Mountain View tech campus in recent weeks.
—George Avalos, Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for foothold
Cite this Entry
“Foothold.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foothold. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
