sostener
Spanish, verb/sosteˈneɾ/
sostener is spelled S-O-S-T-E-N-E-R (8 letters) and appears 11 times per million words in written Spanish, the 6,498th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Sostener is a Spanish verb meaning “to hold, to hold up, to prop up, to sustain, to underpin (physically)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Tener o mantener algo en la mano”.
What does sostener mean in English?
verb
- 1
to hold, to hold up, to prop up, to sustain, to underpin (physically)
- 2
to sustain, to support, to keep (i.e. to give continuity to)
- 3
to support, to uphold, to hold, to sustain, to contend, to maintain, to argue, to claim, to underpin, to defend
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Tener o mantener algo en la mano. 2. Mantener algo de tal forma que no se mueva. 3. Mantener o continuar con una acción o situación. 4. Apoyar, soportar una causa, una idea a alguien.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of sostener
- sostengo first-person present singular
- sostuve first-person preterite singular
- sostenido participle past
- e-ie alternation
- sosteniendo gerund
- sostenida feminine participle past
- sostenidos masculine participle past
- sostenidas feminine participle past
- sostienes indicative informal present
- sostenés indicative informal present
- sostiene indicative present singular
- sostenemos first-person indicative plural
- sostenéis indicative plural present
- sostienen indicative plural present
- sostenía first-person imperfect indicative
- sostenías imperfect indicative second-person
- sosteníamos first-person imperfect indicative
- sosteníais imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce sostener?
- /sosteˈneɾ/
- [sos.t̪eˈneɾ]
- [sost̪eˈneɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to sostener
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is sostener in Spanish?
sostener appears 11 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).