How to Use beholden in a Sentence

beholden

adjective
  • How sooty and unglamorous, how beholden to the old.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Unions are beholden to their bosses rather than to their members.
    — The Economist, 18 Jan. 2018
  • But there’s no need to be beholden to fashion trends, either.
    — The Washington Post, The Denver Post, 2 May 2017
  • Why should people who live in cities be beholden to the wills of small towns in the middle of nowhere?
    — Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 2 July 2019
  • Some are paid by the teams; some are beholden to the wishes of ownership.
    — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 5 Jan. 2022
  • Even if that wasn’t the case, its unclear how beholden Trump might feel to them in the long-term.
    — Alex Wagner, The Atlantic, 7 Dec. 2016
  • Although the book and movie share the same plot, neither was beholden to the other.
    — Janet Potter, Chicago Reader, 1 Mar. 2018
  • The magistrates still are beholden to the mayors for their jobs.
    — Peter Krouse, cleveland.com, 17 Jan. 2018
  • Viewers didn't need to be beholden to a massive cable bill each month to watch the series.
    — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 7 May 2018
  • Because of this, the NRA is not beholden to its rank and file.
    — Michael Harriot, The Root, 21 Feb. 2018
  • To whom are public officials beholden, and who decides the rule of law?
    — Robert Parkinson, The Conversation, 24 June 2026
  • Those of us beholden to employers also have limits on that speech.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, azcentral, 6 June 2019
  • And the good thing is all of us that are insurgents are not beholden to any form of corporation.
    — Bridget Read, Vogue, 29 Aug. 2018
  • So the congressmen and senators beholden to them don't want that.
    — Jack Holmes, Esquire, 1 Aug. 2017
  • The Guardians are once again beholden to the platoon advantage.
    — Zack Meisel, New York Times, 11 June 2026
  • Politicians should feel beholden to the largest number of possible donors.
    — Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 10 June 2019
  • Doing the hokey-kochy In part, that is because the left is almost as beholden to rich people as the right.
    — The Economist, 29 Aug. 2019
  • Mr Tshisekedi is beholden to his predecessor, who has not gone away.
    — The Economist, 6 Feb. 2020
  • In that case, Macron might have to appoint a prime minister from the right who does not share his views and does not feel beholden to him.
    — chicagotribune.com, 5 May 2017
  • The other contends that appointments leave judges beholden to politicians, and says voters should have a voice.
    — Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2026
  • The rules are intended to guard against that sort of thing, to make sure The Times and its reporters are beholden to no one.
    — Liz Spayd, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2016
  • But coach Dabo Swinney isn’t beholden to just recruiting the players with the most stars next to their names.
    — Sam Butler, ajc, 4 Oct. 2017
  • In those days, record labels were more beholden to the big-box stores that carried CDs — and the parental concerns that came with them.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 5 Aug. 2022
  • There was concern that this Brazil team was too imbalanced, and too beholden to its star, to really contend.
    — Brian Straus, SI.com, 27 June 2018
  • That is the situation in the Senate, where Democrats are not beholden to Pelosi.
    — Byron York, Washington Examiner, 9 Jan. 2020
  • The meat of the festival's lineup, though, consists of present-day hardcore acts who are beholden to the bands Merrill knows from way back.
    — Kevin Warwick, Chicago Reader, 25 Apr. 2018
  • Johnson’s Last Jedi was explicitly about not being beholden to the rules of the past.
    — Adam Rogers, WIRED, 6 June 2018
  • For a short time, the military was beholden to NASA to fly its spy satellites into space.
    — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 1 Oct. 2018
  • So yeah, the NBA has proven to be as beholden to the almighty dollar as any of the other professional sports leagues.
    — Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2019
  • Scenes like these can stiffen the shoulders of even the least cringe-beholden amongst us, but Bailey and Gemmell nail every second.
    — ELLE, 2 Apr. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beholden.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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