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
-
withholdssimple
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have withheldperfect
-
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
The vast majority of states continue to withhold the right to vote when people are released on parole.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
If you start claiming in the months before your birth month for full retirement age, then Social Security withholds $1 for every $3 you earn over $65,160, a somewhat less restrictive policy.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
To satisfy the taxes, Nvidia withholds a certain number of shares from the employee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 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
For most taxpayers, their employer withholds taxes in every paycheck, with the majority due a tax refund for having overpaid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
Why do we depend solely upon his magnanimity, and succumb miserably when he withholds it?
From Only a Girl: or, A Physician for the Soul. by Wilhelmine von Hillern
It comes after the Financial Times reported, external Anthropic withheld its latest model from the AI Safety Institute, which tests AI.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
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
In 2026, the limit for someone below FRA for the entire year is $24,480, with $1 in benefits withheld for every $2 earned above that amount.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
This time it was a subtle promise, a tantalizing hint of beauty still withheld, a beckoning to her spirit to follow she knew not where.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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
Cowin’s own restraint and withholding yield images of distilled power.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
He added that the health board had taken "a 'one-size-fits-all' approach when withholding information, failing to carefully consider the case for and against disclosure".
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
He registered for Connecticut tax withholding for his nurses, according to court records.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
But Southam wasn’t their doctor, and he wasn’t withholding upsetting health information.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
