Hold back
Hold back verb - To create difficulty for the work or activity of.
Usage example: the only thing holding Joe back from joining the swim team is lack of transportation
Interfere
Interfere verb - To interest oneself in what is not one's concern.
Hold back and interfere are semantically related in impede topic. Sometimes you can use "Hold back" instead a verb "Interfere".
Nearby Words: interference, interfering
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
Both terms in one sentence
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Unlike many examples of this trope, Obi-Wan actually literally can't interfere, rather than deciding to hold back for the sake of letting the hero learn a lesson or win on his own - as a ghost, he can't do anything to affect a lightsaber battle.
Source: Film / The Empire Strikes Back
Cite this Source
Interfere and Hold back. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 13, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/hold_back/interfere
Hold back & Interfere. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/hold_back/interfere>.
Interfere or Hold back. 2016. Accessed August 13, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/hold_back/interfere.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "hold back" and "interfere" have occurred on timeline