Meaning

"Hold on a sec" means "please wait a moment." "Hold on" is to wait, the same idea as holding the line on a phone call. "A sec" is short for "a second", and nobody means exactly one second. It could be thirty seconds or two minutes.

You hear it on the phone, at a door, at a counter, whenever someone needs a short pause before they can give you their attention. It's casual and very common in American English. Close cousins are "hang on a sec", "one sec" and "give me a sec".

It has a second use: stopping a conversation because something sounds wrong. "Hold on a sec. You said Tuesday before." That's an interruption, so your tone matters; said sharply, it sounds like you're accusing someone. With a customer or a senior person, "Could you give me a moment?" or "Would you mind holding for a moment?" is the polite version.

In a conversation

PoppyArjun
  1. Poppy
  2. Arjun
  3. Poppy
  4. Arjun
  5. Poppy
  6. Arjun

Say it out loud

Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.

Check yourself

1On the phone, someone says "Hold on a sec." What should you do?
2Your coworker says "Hold on a sec. You said Monday before." What are they doing?

Practice · 3 min

Listen, then repeat. In fast speech, "hold on a" blends into "hol-duh-nuh". Stress "sec".

Say it today

Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.