1300-50;Middle English, adj. use of beholden, old past participle of behold
Related forms
unbeholden, adjective
Synonyms
obliged, bound, grateful, liable.
Examples from the web for beholden
Universities are beholden to more than one consumer of their product.
Even local appointments were more beholden to weather and the temperament of one's horse than the accuracy of one's clock.
The whole point of campaign finance reform is that candidates aren't beholden to their donors if they get elected.
The prospect is that any new government, from either side, will be weak and beholden to fractious parties at the extremes.
But developers aren't necessarily beholden to one specific platform.
He was too much of an individualist and inborn skeptic to be beholden to any confining ideology for long.
She is beholden to the military and cannot risk giving it another grievance.
The right is beholden to his media power, which could be trained mercilessly on any prospective successor.
The newcomer, not beholden to any parochial interests, administered the necessary moves.
The parties remain largely inchoate, the legislators undisciplined and beholden to local rather than national interests.
British Dictionary definitions for beholden
beholden
/bɪˈhəʊldən/
adjective
1.
indebted; obliged; under a moral obligation
Word Origin
Old English behealden, past participle of behealdan to behold
Word Origin and History for beholden
adj.
"under obligation," mid-14c., originally past participle of behold (and preserving the original past participle of hold), but a sense directly related to this usage is not recorded among the many and varied meanings attested for behold.