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hold back

verb

to restrain or be restrained
tr to withhold
he held back part of the payment

noun

a strap of the harness joining the breeching to the shaft, so that the horse can hold back the vehicle
something that restrains or hinders

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, keep back .

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Example Sentences

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Could India hold back or divert the Indus basin's waters, depriving Pakistan of its lifeline?

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Hundreds of ice shelves surround about three-quarters of today's Antarctic ice sheet, helping to hold back its vast glaciers.

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At the other end enormous steel doors hold back the sea.

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From bullet sprays to sweaty Klansmen to buzzards circling overhead, “Sinners” doesn’t hold back like it’s too sophisticated to give the audience what they want.

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Brown sugar gives it a molasses depth and I hold back on the white sugar so things never veer into cloying.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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