keep back
Britishverb
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(tr) to refuse to reveal or disclose
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to prevent, be prevented, or refrain from advancing, entering, etc
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Crowds of civilians were kept back by armed Hamas fighters as she appeared on a platform and was given a certificate, before being passed to the Red Cross.
From BBC
There have been chaotic scenes at the opening of the annual agricultural show in Paris as farmers broke through security barriers and had to be kept back by riot police.
From BBC
While the bison do help keep back some of the invasive grasses, Dennhardt explains that they create wallows and cause erosion.
From National Geographic
Oxfam said it understood workers' frustrations, but that its reserves had fallen, and it needed to keep back funds to weather financial shocks.
From BBC
Vegetation helps to prevent streambank erosion, keeping back salt-filled silt that changes the water chemistry and fills the gaps between gravel—where hellbender larvae live.
From Scientific American
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
