Arrest the downward trend
Check the growth of communism in South East Asia
Contain the rebel movement
Turn back the tide of communism
Somebody ——s something
Somebody ——s somebody
Something ——s somebody
Something ——s something
suppress a smile
Keep your temper
keep your cool
Somebody ——s somebody
Somebody ——s somebody PP
she forbore a snicker
Somebody ——s
the scientists held off announcing their results until they repeated the experiment
Somebody ——s
Somebody ——s something
Somebody ——s VERB-ing
They hold back a long time
She conceals her anger well
Somebody ——s something
The landlord retained the security deposit
I reserve the right to disagree
Somebody ——s something
They hold back the money
* * *
he held back, remembering the mistake he had made before
* * *
She wanted to introduce herself to him but she held back out of shyness.
She could have beaten him in the race, but she held back and let him win. [=she did not run as fast as she could have so that he would win]
Once he starts talking, there's no holding him back. [=it's very hard to get him to stop talking]
He was unable to hold back his tears. [=to keep from crying]
The company held back the first shipment of the new product until it was completely ready.
* * *
•
She held back, not knowing how to break the terrible news.
•
I wanted to tell him the truth, but something held me back.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.