hold back — restrain emotion
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
to stop yourself from showing your feelings, especially strong emotions like anger, sadness, or excitement
Say it like a native
Textbook She restrained her tears with great difficulty.
Native She could hardly hold back the tears.
'Hold back (tears)' is the natural collocation. 'Restrained her tears' is stiff.
Pattern: hold back (tears/laughter/emotion)
In use
- She tried to hold back her tears during the sad movie.daily life
- In stressful situations, I sometimes find it hard to hold back my frustration, especially when things don't go as planned.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ He held his anger back inside.
✓ He held back his anger.
'Hold back + emotion'. 'Inside' is redundant.
Common collocations
hold back + emotion— the tears, her anger, a laugh, his feelings
Don't confuse it
Not the same as 'hold on' (wait) or 'hold up' (delay).
Related
- hold back (withhold information) — Another meaning of 'hold back' is 'withhold information'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.