0 a place such as a hole in a rock where you can put your foot safely when climbing --
1 a strong first position from which further progress can be made: --
2 a place where you can safely put your feet, esp. when climbing: --
She searched desperately for a foothold in the steep rock.
3 a situation in which someone has obtained the power or influence needed to get what is wanted: --
4 a strong first position in a market, industry, etc. from which further progress can be made: --
The sides are too high for a baby to climb and provide no footholds.
Alternative terms were subsequently coined, but by then marketing had gained a sound foothold.
The hair on lower stamens may serve to provide footholds for visitors.
Welshmen were not typically appointed to the most profitable of manorial offices, nor did they have a strong foothold in the most profitable of trades.
She shows them the pathway they must take into the sky; it has pegs as footholds.
Human prostate cancer metastases target the hematopoietic stem cell niche to establish footholds in mouse bone marrow.
He was an early adopter of starting blocks rather than digging footholds in the cinder tracks.
The climb is very particular and uses tiny edges and footholds.
