hold back

hold back — / hold off [v] repress bit, bridle, check, control, curb, defer, delay, deny, forbear, hold down, hold in, inhibit, keep, keep back, keep out, postpone, prevent, put off, refrain, refuse, restrain, stop, suppress, withhold; concepts 121,130 Ant.… …   New thesaurus

hold|back — «HOHLD BAK», noun, adjective. –n. 1. a thing that holds back; restraint; hindrance. 2. the act of restraining or preventing action. 3. an iron or strap on the shaft of a wagon or carriage to which the harness is attached, enabling a horse to hold …   Useful english dictionary

hold back — (from (doing something)) to avoid doing something. Unable to hold back, we screamed with laughter. We were worried about viewers reactions, so we held back from broadcasting the show …   New idioms dictionary

hold back — hold (something) back to keep something secret. They talk about everything and hold back nothing …   New idioms dictionary

hold back — hold, withhold, reserve, detain, retain, *keep, keep back, keep out …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

hold back — ► hold back hesitate. Main Entry: ↑hold …   English terms dictionary

hold back — index arrest (stop), avoid (evade), balk, clog, confine, constrain (restrain) …   Law dictionary

hold back — verb 1. hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of (Freq. 4) Arrest the downward trend Check the growth of communism in South East Asia Contain the rebel movement Turn back the tide of communism • Syn: ↑check, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

hold back — 1) PHR V ERG If you hold back or something holds you back, you hesitate before you do something because you are not sure whether it is the right thing to do. [V P] The administration had several reasons for holding back... [V n P] Melancholy and… …   English dictionary

hold back — phrasal verb Word forms hold back : present tense I/you/we/they hold back he/she/it holds back present participle holding back past tense held back past participle held back 1) [transitive] to stop someone or something from moving forwards Ollie… …   English dictionary

hold back — v. 1) (D; tr.) ( to keep ) to hold back from (lack of education held him back from promotion) 2) (d; intr.) to hold back with (to hold back with one s reserves) * * * [ həʊld bæk] (D; tr.) ( to keep ) to hold back from (lack of education held him …   Combinatory dictionary