Withhold

//wɪθˈhoʊld// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An immoral action or condition (an overt) that has not been disclosed to others; the consciousness of such an action or condition.

    "I was afraid to go into review for the help I needed because of the withholds I had against the organization, withholds acquired at the franchise: our late evening discussions, our kidding around at the expense of other Scientologists."

Verb
  1. 1
    To keep (a physical object that one has obtained) to oneself rather than giving it back to its owner. transitive

    "The bank withheld her credit card."

  2. 2
    hold back; refuse to hand over or share wordnet
  3. 3
    To keep (information, assent etc) to oneself rather than revealing it. transitive

    "withhold vital information"

  4. 4
    retain and refrain from disbursing; of payments wordnet
  5. 5
    To stay back, to refrain. intransitive

    "I’ll withhold from asking about it."

Synonyms

All synonyms
retainabstainabstain fromarrestavoidbegrudge

Example

More examples

"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it."

Etymology

From Middle English withholden. Equivalent to with- + hold.

More for "withhold"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.