withhold
Americanverb (used with object)
-
withholds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
withheld,
past participle, past
-
withholding
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
withholds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
withheld,
past participle, past
-
withholding
present participle
-
to hold back; refrain.
-
to deduct withholding tax.
verb
-
(tr) to keep back; refrain from giving
he withheld his permission
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(tr) to hold back; restrain
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(tr) to deduct (taxes, etc) from a salary or wages
-
to refrain or forbear
Synonym Usage
See keep.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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withholdsimple
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withholdssimple
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have withheldperfect
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has withheldperfect
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am withholdingprogressive
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are withholdingprogressive
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is withholdingprogressive
-
have been withholdingperfect progressive
-
has been withholdingperfect progressive
Past
-
withheldsimple
-
had withheldperfect
-
was withholdingprogressive
-
were withholdingprogressive
-
had been withholdingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of withhold
First recorded in 1150–1200, withhold is from the Middle English word withholden. See with-, hold 1
Explanation
If you keep something back and don't share it, you withhold it. You can withhold things such as permission, emotion, or information. You might get into trouble if you withhold information from your parents or the police. The verb withhold means to deduct from a payment and hold back. Your job will withhold money from your paycheck for things like taxes. You may also choose to withhold money from your check for healthcare, retirement, and numerous other voluntary accounts. The past tense of the verb withhold is withheld. Withhold is spelled with a double h because it is made by combining the words with and hold.
Vocabulary lists containing withhold
The Pearl
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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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.
See Examples For:
I had already given myself the thing they were threatening to withhold.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
Southern postmasters thus continued to withhold antislavery periodicals, with the tacit approval of Jackson protégé Kendall.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
"We also have to be willing to slow down or withhold further scaling when our confidence in safety is not sufficient," he added.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The company will withhold $5bn of the settlement, and only release it if YouTube, TikTok and others also enter into similar agreements.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
In cases where NTIs do not have a reasonable ability to manipulate events, it is still best to withhold all information.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
To satisfy the taxes, Nvidia withholds a certain number of shares from the employee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from U.S. chip makers including Nvidia, sources say.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 26, 2026
“Today, the court holds that one exception — the postal exception — prevents individuals from recovering for injuries based on a postal employee’s intentional misconduct, including when an employee maliciously withholds their mail,” Sotomayor wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
She by and large withholds judgment from their conclusions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
It can do to no one any favor, nor render to any one any assistance, which it withholds from another.
From A Letter to Grover Cleveland On His False Inaugural Address, The Usurpations and Crimes of Lawmakers and Judges, and the Consequent Poverty, Ignorance, and Servitude Of The People by Lysander Spooner
In June, the oversight body filed the lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department asking for a judge to order the release of the withheld records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
But even that outdoor time was sometimes withheld when her classmates “behaved poorly”—a common disciplinary tactic that the national guidance recommends against.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
She said a post mortem examination took place on Saturday but the result had been withheld for investigation reasons.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Social Security adjusts your benefit at FRA to account for those months during which your benefits were withheld because of excess earnings.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
I decide not even to complain about having my first paycheck withheld or the ways we’re shortchanged every day.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
“Please, please I just want something, I’ll do anything,” the hungry 8-year-old boy would beg, according to his sister, whose identity The Times is withholding because she is a juvenile.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
From a modest family, he dreamt of becoming a computer engineer to "change his life", he told AFP, withholding his surname because "the fear is still there".
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Hamilton ruled that it had only "partially complied" with FOI legislation by "failing to provide a complete response" to the request and "incorrectly withholding" some details.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Another reason she might be withholding guidance is that she possesses some narcissistic tendencies, Smith says.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
To start with, my parents were complicated: strict, generous, punishing, expansive, withholding.
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
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.
