lexicow

withhold

/wɪðˈhoʊld//wɪðˈhəʊld/·verb
Water rises behind the dam, pressing higher and harder against a shut gate, while the far side lies dry and cracked, getting none of it. The gate strains under the load and trembles, stress flaring at its edges — and still it does not open. The water is neither spilled nor spent; it is only kept behind the line, every drop banked and ready. Holding the gate shut against all that weight takes far more effort than letting it go.
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Definition

To withhold is to hold back — to keep something you could give or release, and choose not to. You can withhold information, payment, consent, or judgment. From 'with-' (back, away) plus 'hold', the thing is neither destroyed nor used up; it is deliberately kept behind a line. To withhold judgment is the careful, academic move of refusing to decide until the evidence is in, while to suppress is to push something down by force — withholding is quieter, a hand that simply does not open.

Examples

  • A good researcher will withhold judgment until there is enough evidence to discern a real pattern.
  • The company chose to withhold final payment until the work was finished.
  • To withhold water is to deprive a crop of the one thing it cannot make for itself.

Collocations

withhold information·withhold judgment·withhold consent·withhold payment

Synonyms

hold back·retain·suppress·keep back·reserve

Antonyms

release·grant·disclose

Word family

withholding (noun)

In TOEFL & IELTS

Very useful for IELTS and TOEFL academic writing, above all the phrase 'withhold judgment'. It is irregular: withhold–withheld–withheld. Pair it with 'information', 'consent' and 'payment'. Keep it separate from suppress (to crush or hide by force) and deprive (to keep a needy party from essentials) — to withhold is simply to decline to release.