An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'hold back' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
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Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them.
In this post, I will be explaining the phrasal verb 'hold back', which you may be familiar with already as it is a fairly common and widespread one. Do you know all of the ways that it can be used in English though? Don't worry if not because I will explain each of them in detail for you as we go and provide lots of example sentences to help you master how to use them like a native speaker. So, without further ado, let's make a start....
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HOLD BACK: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Medium |
Number of meanings | 5 |
Past tense forms | Held back / Held back |
Separable? | Yes |
THE BASICS
To begin the post, let's first examine the individual words 'hold' and 'back' to see what they mean on their own.
Our base verb in this post is the verb 'to hold', which has a large number of different uses in English. Its main meanings include 'to have something in your hands or arms for a period of time', 'to contain', 'to keep something in a place and prevent it from moving' and 'to organise something official, like an election or a meeting'.
Becky left the hospital holding her new baby.
Louise and Alex held hands along the beach.
This water tank holds 1000 litres of water.
The police are holding the suspects in a cell temporarily until their investigation is finished.
The government is holding a vote next week to decide who will become the new parliament speaker.
Next, we have the prepositional particle 'back', which is one that is fairly common in phrasal verbs but not as prevalent as other particles like 'in', 'up' and 'out'. The general meanings of the word 'back' are all related to 're' words, such as reversal, response, return and restrain. These ideas are also reflected in phrasal verbs that feature 'back', for example 'set back', 'take back', 'go back' and 'get back'. Also, when used as an adverb, the word 'back' can be used to express being at the rear of something (behind everyone or everything else) and therefore away from the front.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'hold back'....
MEANING 1: To stop something from advancing
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CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To restrain, to stop, to halt, to constrain, to block |
Separable? | Yes |
Let's start our exploration of the phrasal verb 'hold back' with a somewhat literal meaning, which is 'to stop something from advancing'.
Nouns commonly used with this application:
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As you can see from the list above, this first usage of 'hold back' is applied to nouns for things that physically move forwards on the ground, which of course include people and animals, as well as for things like fire and water, which do so by their very nature. When we hold these back, we stop their progress by blocking them in some way and therefore prevent them from advancing any further.
This application combines the literal meaning of 'to hold', as in keeping something stationary, with the notion of 'back', suggesting a rear position with the potential to move forward. Together, they imply that the person, animal or object is prevented from progressing further along its course.
The police formed a line to hold back the crowd during the protest.
Sandbags were placed along the riverbank to hold back the rising floodwaters.
The soldiers worked together to hold back the enemy forces
John stretched out his arms to hold back his younger brother from running into the street.
In informal spoken English, "hold back" is used when someone is angry and about to become violent, and another person physically restrains them, preventing them from attacking the other person.
Thinking about the grammar here, you should note that we need the additional preposition 'from' + the verb in gerund form with this application (as you can see in the sentence before this).
Simon was so angry with his boss that his colleagues had to hold him back from hitting him.
Karen had to hold back her dog when it lunged at the cat.
Moreover, this application is also used by native speakers in hypothetical scenarios with the second conditional to describe situations in which someone would need to be restrained from aggression towards another person because they are so angry or annoyed.
If anyone hurt my children, it would take an entire army to hold me back from attacking them.
You wouldn't be able to hold me back if I found out that my boyfriend was seeing his ex-girlfriend.
Here is a music video of a well known song featuring this first application of 'hold back', however I am note sure if this is meant in a literal sense. What do you think?
MEANING 2: To stop yourself from acting or speaking
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To restrain yourself, to repress, to stifle, to suppress |
Separable? | Yes |
Now we move on to the second meaning of 'hold back', which is another variation on the theme of stopping that we covered in the previous section. For this application, rather than preventing the forward movement of something, we are instead stopping ourselves from acting in a certain way or from saying something.
For this usage, we again need the additional preposition 'from' + the verb in gerund ('ing) form to specify the action that we want to prevent. As we are often talking about ourselves here, it is also very common to use reflexive (-self) pronouns.
Firstly, let's consider when we use 'hold back' to mean 'stopping yourself from acting in a certain way', which can be used to describe any time that you hesitate to do something or do not do something completely. This would typically be because you are not sure whether or not it is the right thing to do or perhaps because you do not want to make a situation that is already bad even worse.
Roger felt nervous during the interview and held back from sharing his most creative ideas.
I was about to send the email to the customer but I held back from sending it to reconsider my tone.
Mike and Jim planned to invest more money but held back due to the uncertainty of the economy.
Adrian couldn't hold back from buying the antique ornaments, despite his wife having told him he could not spend any more money.
Another way that this application of 'hold back' is used a lot is in reference to emotions, particularly when we want to stop ourselves from showing a certain emotion or when we cannot stop ourselves from doing so. Typically, these "held back" emotions include crying, laughing, losing your temper (becoming angry) and shouting.
Perhaps the most common word that is used with 'hold back' in reference to emotions is the noun 'tears'. 'To hold back the tears' is another way to say to stop yourself from crying.
Whilst watching her colleagues argue, Sarah almost burst out laughing at the wrong moment but managed to hold back just in time.
Despite the bad news, Sally managed to hold back from crying.
Jacob clenched his fists tightly, struggling to hold back his anger.
She bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to flow.
Steve turned away to hold back the wave of sadness that suddenly overwhelmed him.
Jane had to hold back her excitement when she heard the good news to keep the surprise for later.
Finally, the other action that we use with 'hold back' is speaking and this can often be for a number of reasons. Perhaps, we do not want to make a situation worse or cause an argument, or maybe we are too shy to express our opinion about something. Either way, the central idea here is that we have something to say or that we want to say, but ultimately do not.
Moreover, if someone doesn't hold back, it means that they say exactly what they are thinking, often without caring about what other people think. This is especially common to hear in reference to when people are angry or are in a fierce argument.
Lucy wanted to speak her mind but decided to hold back, fearing she might offend someone.
Bobby saw the opportunity to criticise his boss but wisely chose to hold back.
Maria held back from speaking during the work meeting as she was terrified of speaking English in front of native speakers.
Jo lost her temper with her mother in law and didn't hold back; she told her exactly what she thought of her for the first time.
MEANING 3: To withhold something
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To withhold, to keep back, to retain |
Separable? | Yes |
We finished the previous section with the idea of holding back from speaking and this brings us nicely to our third meaning of 'hold back', which is 'to withhold something', most commonly information.
To clarify, this application means to keep information secret and not make it known to other people. More often than not, we use this particular application when we give people some information about a subject but not all of it and we keep some of the information back.
This application is frequently used in social groups where people keep secrets, in businesses when management and directors want to restrict employee access to specific information and for children when certain things are not appropriate for them to know.
The witness admitted to holding back key facts from the police out of fear for their safety.
The company was criticised for holding back information about the product recall.
I suspect that they're holding back the full story until they get more evidence.
The report was incomplete because the author deliberately held back some of the findings.
Robert was accused of holding back crucial evidence from the investigation.
In addition to withholding information, we can also use this application of 'hold back' to refer to things that we use or need, such as money or energy. When we hold some of it back, we keep part of it in reserve in order to use it later.
Alan decided to hold back some of his savings in case of an emergency.
The football coach instructed his team to hold back their energy for the final quarter of the game.
Anne didn't eat all of her cookies at once and held back a few to enjoy after dinner.
MEANING 4: To prevent someone from progressing
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To hinder, to impede, to thwart |
Separable? | Yes |
For the next usage of 'hold back', I want to go back again to the first meaning in this post, which is to stop something from advancing. This is because the next application is the same idea, however rather than talking about something physically moving forwards, we are instead talking about the idea of stopping something or someone from progressing or developing.
Vocabulary commonly used with this application....
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This usage of 'hold back' is not used very much with tangible, physical objects but rather with abstract nouns. For example, if we talk about holding a person back, we are usually referring to their career or their personal development, or stopping them from doing something that they want to do in their life.
Moreover, when we talk about holding something back, we are likely talking about a project, plan or process that is not developing as quickly as it should.
Financial constraints are holding back the completion of the new building.
The outdated software is holding back the company's ability to compete in the market.
Penny decided not to have children as she thought that they would hold her back in her career.
Alison's perfectionism often holds her back from finishing projects on time.
MEANING 5: To make a school student repeat a year
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | American English |
Potential synonyms | To repeat |
Separable? | Yes |
We have now come to our fifth and final meaning of 'hold back', which is an American English usage and means 'to to make a school student repeat a year'.
This one is typically used when a schoolchild does not pass his or her exams at the end of the school year or does not progress sufficiently during the year and therefore needs to repeat the year.
Grammatically speaking, you are likely to hear this in a passive sense, with the idea of a student "being held back" due to poor grades, performance or attendance.
In British English, although we would understand the use of 'hold back' within the context of the conversation, we would normally use the verb 'to repeat' instead.
The teacher suggested holding Tony back a year because he was struggling to keep up with the curriculum.
After failing several exams, the school decided to hold Mary-Sue back in fourth grade.
Despite his efforts, Chuck was held back in high school due to poor academic performance.
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We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'turn out'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'hold back'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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THE END
I held back from telling all about her husband