🇬🇧 Withhold meaning: English Vocabulary Flash Card

To withhold something means you keep it back on purpose instead of giving it. If you withhold a treat, you don’t hand it over. If you withhold information, you don’t tell it, even though someone wants to know. It’s like you’re pressing an invisible ‘pause’ button and not letting the thing go to the other person.

Grandpa said he would withhold his secret cookie recipe until we learned math, so suddenly everyone loved fractions.

I tried to withhold my excitement, but my feet started doing a tap‑dance announcement.

Our principal tried to withhold the surprise, but the giant bouncy castle in the playground kind of ruined the secret.

I tried to withhold my burp during dinner, but it escaped and sounded like a confused duck.

Scientists sometimes withhold results until they double‑check them, but I never withhold my opinion about broccoli—it tastes like crunchy disappointment.

At the bakery window, Lucy wanted to buy a pastry, but the baker would withhold one last tart, withhold a smile, withhold the change, and withhold a small napkin. Lucy watched the baker withhold the tart behind his hand, then, feeling sorry, he could no longer withhold it and handed her the warm tart.

This word is at the C2 level, which means it represents the highest mastery of English. It’s often used in specialized or highly formal contexts and helps you communicate with precision and subtlety, much like a native speaker.

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