Engaging
Engaging adjective - Having an often mysterious or magical power to attract.
Holding back and engaging are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Holding back" instead an adjective "Engaging".
Holding back
Engaging and holding back are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Engaging" instead an adjective phrase "Holding back".
Both terms in one sentence
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Strangely enough, Sin fails to use this shield when engaging the party and their airship —though it may have been holding back willingly at that point.
- The events that lead to Ends of the Earth, and later, Superior Spider-Man started because even holding back, constantly engaging in physical combat with Spider-Man over the course of years had damaged Octopus' body so much that it eventually just started shutting down completely.
Source: Good Is Not Soft -
A bunch of blameless orphans are dead, Anna has become prematurely-aged and deeply traumatised from her ordeal (potentially beyond recovery) and with the Baron away, there's now nothing his army holding back from engaging in all the murder, looting and raping they want.
Cite this Source
Holding back and Engaging. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 13, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/engaging/holding_back
Engaging & Holding back. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/engaging/holding_back>.
Holding back or Engaging. 2016. Accessed August 13, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/engaging/holding_back.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "engaging" and "holding back" have occurred on timeline