hold with the hare and run with the hounds
"hold-with-the-hare-and-run-with-the-hounds" is a 34-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hold with the hare and run with the hounds” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 42
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To oppose an action or behavior and yet engage in the same action or behavior; to be a hypocrite.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hold with the hare and run with the hounds |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 42 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hold with the hare and run with the hounds” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hold with the hare and run with the hounds is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for hold with the hare and run with the hounds in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is hold with the hare and run with the hounds, spelled H-O-L-D- -W-I-T-H- -T-H-E- -H-A-R-E- -A-N-D- -R-U-N- -W-I-T-H- -T-H-E- -H-O-U-N-D-S.
Definition
- 1To oppose an action or behavior and yet engage in the same action or behavior; to be a hypocrite.
- 2To remain neutral by attempting to placate two factions or both sides of a controversy.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "hold with the hare and run with the hounds"?
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Using “hold with the hare and run with the hounds”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-O-L-D- -W-I-T-H- -T-H-E- -H-A-R-E- -A-N-D- -R-U-N- -W-I-T-H- -T-H-E- -H-O-U-N-D-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.