withhold
pronunciation
How to pronounce withhold in British English:
UK [wɪðˈhəʊld]
How to pronounce withhold in American English:
US [wɪðˈhoʊld]
-
- Verb:
- hold back; refuse to hand over or share
- retain and refrain from disbursing; of payments
Word Origin
- withhold (v.)
- c. 1200, from with- "back, away" (see with) + holden "to hold" (see hold (v.)); probably a loan-translation of Latin retinere "to withhold." Related: Withheld; withholding. Past participle form withholden was still used 19c.
Example
- 1. A woman might withhold sex so she can assess a man 's intentions .
- 2. But I withhold both for fear of harm coming to him through unnecessary publicity .
- 3. This time the nsabb has not asked the two journals to withhold the new research altogether .
- 4. But the agency 's knowledge is also determined by the amount of information that foreign intelligence services choose to offer-or withhold .
- 5. And congress could withhold federal money , as it did in 1984 from states that resisted raising the drinking age to 21 .