Meaning
- Hold back means to stop yourself, someone, or something from moving forward, expressing something, or progressing.
- It can also mean to keep something secret, to restrain emotions, or to delay progress.
Grammar and Usage
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Phrasal verb (transitive/intransitive).
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Structures:
- hold back something → to restrain or prevent progress.
- hold back from doing something → to stop yourself from taking an action.
- hold somebody back → to prevent someone from advancing.
Common Phrases
- hold back tears – try not to cry.
- hold back the truth – not reveal information.
- hold back progress – slow or stop advancement.
- hold back from speaking – refrain from saying something.
Collocations
- verbs: try to hold back, manage to hold back, fail to hold back
- nouns: hold back tears, hold back anger, hold back laughter, hold back progress, hold back emotions
- adverbs: completely hold back, hardly hold back
Examples
- She tried to hold back her tears during the farewell speech.
- Don’t hold back the truth—just tell me what really happened.
- His fear of failure tends to hold him back from taking new opportunities.
- I couldn’t hold back my laughter when he made that silly joke.
- The strict rules are holding back progress in the company.
- He wanted to argue but decided to hold back.
- The dam is built to hold back the water during floods.
- She found it hard to hold back her excitement before the trip.
Synonyms or Related
- restrain
- suppress
- keep in
- withhold
- delay
Antonym
- let out
- release
- express
- allow
- advance