Hold back
Hold back verb - Secure and keep for possible future use or application.
Keep
Keep verb - To keep from exceeding a desirable degree or level (as of expression).
Usage example: at least try to keep your temper during the holiday meal
Hold back is a synonym for keep in prevent topic. You can use "Hold back" instead a verb "Keep", if it concerns topics such as hold, restraint, detain, retain. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Both terms in one sentence
- People who hold back and keep with the confines of their Gunpla's canon tend to be ran over by those who go above and beyond.
- Espurr and Meowstic keep their ears folded to hold back the immense, uncontrollable psychic power that they produce.
Source: Power Limiter -
Justified, since Quick Man didn't care enough to try at first, and Crash Man is geared toward just annihilating everything in his vicinity, but had to hold back to keep from destroying his partners.
Source: Webcomic / MS Paint Masterpieces
Cite this Source
Keep and Hold back. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/hold_back/keep
Hold back & Keep. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/hold_back/keep>.
Keep or Hold back. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/hold_back/keep.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "hold back" and "keep" have occurred on timeline