What does withholding mean?
Withholding describes the deliberate act of keeping information, money, consent, or another benefit from someone who might otherwise receive it. As a verb, “withholding” usually means that a person or organization refuses or fails to provide something: a company may be accused of withholding information, or a government may withhold payment. As a noun, “withholding” names the practice itself and commonly appears in the phrase “withholding of,” as in “withholding of consent” or “withholding of taxes.” The word is often more formal and more critical than neutral alternatives such as “keeping back,” suggesting an intentional deprivation of something due. It can also have a specific administrative sense in “tax withholding,” where an amount is set aside from earnings before they are paid out. Withholding is useful because it captures both the act and its implied responsibility: what is withheld is not merely absent, but deliberately kept back.
To deliberately keep back or refuse to give information, money, consent, permission, or another item.
"The department is withholding its findings until the inquiry is complete."
Common constructions include “withhold information from,” “withhold payment,” and “withhold consent.” The verb often implies deliberate action and may carry a negative or legal connotation.
The deliberate act of keeping something back, especially information, payment, consent, permission, or disclosure.
"The withholding of consent must be recorded before the treatment can proceed."
The noun is commonly used with “of” and is more often uncountable than plural.
The plural is rare; “withholding” is normally used in the singular or as an uncountable noun.
"The audit documented several withholdings of payment."
Withholding reaches back to Old English, where “against” met “hold”; today the same idea carries a moral charge: keeping back what another person may expect to receive.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does withholding come from?
Withholding is derived from the English verb withhold, which comes from Old English wiþhealdan, formed from wiþ- (“against” or “opposite”) and healdan (“to hold”). In Middle and Early Modern English, the verb came to mean keeping something back or refusing to give it. Modern withholding preserves this sense in both a verbal form and a gerund noun denoting the act of withholding, while uphold and behold preserve cognate formations of the older Germanic “hold” root.
Related word forms
How withholding is actually used
The term often has a formal, accusatory tone because it implies that something has been deliberately kept back. In administrative contexts, especially taxation, it can be neutral or technical. The common verb pattern is “withhold something from someone.”
Easily confused with withholding
Withstand means to resist or endure an attack, pressure, or force, whereas withholding means to keep back information, payment, consent, or another item.