holding back
Not letting go
Holding back is restraining yourself or withholding something.
You might hold back tears, hold back information, or hold back from saying what you really think.
The phrase suggests deliberate suppression: She was holding back, afraid to commit fully.
It can also mean physically restraining: The police held back the crowd.
Ability to restrain impulses
- hesitationDelay from uncertainty
- restraintControl over impulses
- cautionCareful attention to risk
- reticenceHabitual verbal restraint
discretion · prudence · self-restraint · apprehension · wariness · tentativeness · reserve · reluctance
To obstruct movement
- hinderObstruct or delay
- hamperObstruct or clothes basket
- blockSolid mass, or impede
- delayEnforced waiting period
stall · obstruct · prevent · thwart · inhibit · curb · check · brake
Violent pulls apart
- feelingsEmotional responses experienced internally
- emotionsPsychological feeling states
- angerIntense hostile emotion
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
laughter · sobs · outburst · reaction · expression · sentiment · passion · crying
Accumulated money kept
- stockpileAccumulated reserve supply
- stashHidden reserve
- cacheConcealed storage spot
- reserveSupply kept back
nest egg · contingency · buffer · rainy day fund · retention · earmarking · setting apart · safeguarding
self-control
Ability to restrain impulses
- hesitationDelay from uncertainty
- restraintControl over impulses
- cautionCareful attention to risk
reticence · discretion · prudence · self-restraint · apprehension · wariness · tentativeness · reserve · reluctance · suppression
impede
To obstruct movement
delay · stall · obstruct · prevent · thwart · inhibit · curb · check · brake · contain
tears
Violent pulls apart
- feelingsEmotional responses experienced internally
- emotionsPsychological feeling states
- angerIntense hostile emotion
grief · laughter · sobs · outburst · reaction · expression · sentiment · passion · crying · weeping
savings
Accumulated money kept
reserve · nest egg · contingency · buffer · rainy day fund · retention · earmarking · setting apart · safeguarding · preserving
- Biting Your Tonguestaying quiet, keeping mum, zipping lips, silence
- suppressionrepression, inhibition, restraint, silencing, muzzling
- nonparticipationnonparticipation, noninvolvement, noninterference, nonintervention, abstention
- restraintrestricting, limiting, containing, curtailing, reining in
- self-censorshipfiltering, self-policing, restraint, editing, redacting
- defensedefense, defending, protecting, protection, security
holding backletting go
Releasing one's grasp
releasing · unleashing · freeing · setting free · letting loose
holding backletting out
Allowing to escape
expressing · opening up · pouring out · venting · revealing
holding backpushing forward
Continuing toward a goal
propelling · advancing · encouraging · boosting · promoting
hold, back, held, backing, holder, holding, uphold, hold back, backed