persevere
persist **
hang in *
hang on **
hold on **

He let his words hang in the air for a moment.

The word they'd called his daughter still hung in the air.

The idea hung in the air between the two men for a moment.

But the big question is still hanging in the air.

She was good to hang on in the middle of the night.

The word still hung in the air when death took him.

But they hung around for a bit, just in case he came back.

The staff hung in the air a few feet away.

If you didn't want to be kind a whole range of words were just hanging in the air.

I let the number hang in the air between us.