hold back

Questions about hold back

What does hold back mean?

hold back means "hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for hold back?

Close synonyms include check, turn back, arrest, stop, contain. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is hold back a common word?

hold back is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.