beholden to

idiom

formal
: owing a favor or gift to (someone) : having obligations to (someone)
politicians who are beholden to special interest groups
She works for herself, and so is beholden to no one.

Examples of beholden to in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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.
If nothing else, Jeremy Clarkson has shown how farmers’ livelihoods are beholden to the vicissitudes of the weather gods. Jake Kanter, Deadline, 7 June 2025 Josh here — There will always be an agriculture cycle and companies in the agriculture space will always be, to some extent, beholden to it. Josh Brown,sean Russo, CNBC, 5 June 2025 Lebanon has always been beholden to foreign military suppliers: first to Russia, whose Syrian allies dominated Beirut after the end of the Lebanese Civil War, and then, after the Syrians withdrew in 2005, to the United States. Rania Abouzeid, New Yorker, 2 June 2025 More often than not, the sort of activist who makes a career of political agitation — even from within the confines of an ostensibly apolitical institution — is beholden to a constellation of misconceptions and rationalizations that justify even the most self-destructive endeavors. Noah Rothman, National Review, 29 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for beholden to

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Beholden to.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beholden%20to. Accessed 13 Jun. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!