The Phrasal Verb 'Hold Off' Explained
- Phrasal Verbs Explained
- Aug 29
- 8 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'hold off' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
'Hold off' is a nice little phrasal verb that many English learners do not learn until they are at quite an advanced level. In this article, I will explain the different ways that you can use 'hold off' and provide you with lots of example sentences to show you how it is used by native speakers in their everyday language. So, without further ado, let's make start....
TABLE OF CONTENTSÂ (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
HOLD OFF: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 3 |
Past tense forms | Held off / Held off |
Separable? | Yes |
The phrasal verb 'hold off' is formed of the verb 'to hold' and the particle 'off'. Before we look at its meanings, let's begin by first considering the meanings of the individual words.
If you are capable of reading and understanding this article, then you will certainly be familiar with the verb 'to hold' as it is super common in everyday English. It is a very versatile verb and has various different meanings, with perhaps the most common of these being the idea of containing and grasping something in your hand. Moreover, some of its other key meanings include to possess, to have a belief and to delay something (this last one will come up again later). Lastly, as with many other common verbs, 'to hold' is irregular with the past tense 'held' for both forms.
Can you hold the baby whilst I open the door.
My boyfriend held my hand as we walked along the beach.
This bottle holds 1 litre of liquid.
The bank doesn't hold much money overnight to deter robbers.
Sarah holds the view that this sort of behaviour is wrong.
Can you hold the order as we are not ready to receive it yet.
'Off' is an extremely commonly used particle in English that is also frequently found in phrasal verb constructions. When used in phrasal verbs, 'off' can add different ideas like separation (break off), deactivation (turn off), completion (pay off) and spontaneity (take off), among others.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'hold off'....
MEANING 1: To postpone doing something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To postpone, to put off, to delay, to defer, to refrain |
Separable? | No |
We'll begin the meanings of 'hold off' with probably the most common of them all, which is 'to postpone doing something'.
Firstly, if you are not familiar with the verb 'to postpone', it means to delay something until a later time or date and this first meaning of 'hold off' means the same thing. For example, you may hold off sending an email until a later time or you may hold off cutting the grass in your garden for a few days if the weather is bad.
One difference to note between 'postpone' and 'hold off' is that while 'postpone' can be used to talk about delaying both nouns and actions, 'hold off' tends to be used only in reference to actions. As a result, this application of 'hold off' tends to be followed by the verb for the action expressed in the gerund ('ing) form as you can see in the example sentences below.
You should note that the period of time is not an important factor here; it is possible to hold off doing something both for a few minutes, a few days or a even a few years. I would say that this application does not usually stretch to very long or indefinite periods of time however as we use it to talk about actions that we or other people plan to do and so there is an element or intention or desire to do the action behind it.
We decided to hold off announcing the project until all of the details were finalised.
I think you should hold off making a decision until you’ve heard everyone’s opinion.
The Jones family have chosen to hold off buying a new car until next year.
Debbie wanted to hold off telling people about her pregnancy until she was past the 3-month mark.
The company have decided to hold off launching the product until market conditions improve.
I think we should hold off asking for funding until we’ve prepared a stronger proposal.
Sam tried to hold off responding to the criticism until he had more information on it.
BONUS: To hold off on doing something
If you've been studying English for a while, then you will know that sometimes it can be a bit strange and here is one of those instances of its weirdness.
In addition to 'to hold off doing something', we can also add the preposition 'on', giving us 'to hold off on doing something', which means exactly the same thing. I've no idea why we sometimes add this additional preposition as there is no real difference in meaning that I can tell but we just do it sometimes, so it is always useful to be aware of it to avoid any confusion.
Let’s hold off on sending the email until the manager approves it.
Karen is not yet sure if she will hold off on putting her house on the market as she doesn't know if she wants to move.
MEANING 2: To not happen as expected (weather)
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To stay away |
Separable? | No |
A very common stereotype about the UK is that it rains a lot here and that the weather is generally bad. It may surprise you to learn that it doesn't rain as much as you think and it is not always so bad, however it is undeniable that British weather is changeable. As a consequence of this sometimes unpredictable climate, this second application of 'hold off' is one that you may hear a lot if you spend some time here as it means 'to not happen as expected' and is typically used to refer to weather.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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You can see from the list of nouns above that this application of 'hold off' is reserved for types of weather that are generally unpopular with many people.
Typically, we use 'hold off' when we have plans to do something or to go somewhere outside, which bad weather would ruin or cancel. If you are in the UK or somewhere else with changeable weather, or if bad weather is forecast or probable, you might use 'hold off' to say that the expected bad weather did not happen in the end.
Oftentimes, we can use this application to express when the bad weather did arrive but not until after the point at which it was expected, meaning that you were able to do your outdoor activity.
Lastly, we can also use it to express wishes and desires that any bad weather that has been forecast will stay away until a later date or after your planned activity.
The rain held off until after the wedding ceremony, so we were able to stay outside.
I hope the snow holds off until I get home.
The storm held off long enough for us to finish the game.
Luckily, the heavy winds held off during the parade and everything went well.
If the fog holds off for a few more hours, our flight should leave on time.
British people love to talk about (or moan about) the weather, so if you are ever in the UK and you use this one, you will fit in just like a local 😀
MEANING 3: To successfully resist someone
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To deter, to hold back, to fend off |
Separable? | Yes |
Our third and final application of 'hold off' means 'to successfully resist someone' and has a couple of distinct uses.
When I think of this application of 'hold off', the first idea that comes to mind is the idea of resisting an attack of some sort (and actually this is probably the rarest in terms of real life application). The idea here is that if someone attacks you, particularly if you are trying to defend somewhere that they are trying to get to, you hold them off if you resist their attack. In other words, you stop them from defeating you, in many cases so that they are unable to move past you.
Of course, this application does not have to be used just with a physical attack as we can use 'hold off' in this way to describe any time that we resist or attack someone or something and delay or prevent them from achieving their goal.
This may be an athlete in a race who manages to stay in front of another runner who is accelerating hard to move past them, it may be blocking a dog's path to stop it from attacking another dog or it may even be something like stopping a fire from spreading to another place. Here are some more examples for you....
The soldiers managed to hold off the enemy until reinforcements arrived.
Lucy held off her opponent with a series of quick moves.
The salesman tried to convince me to sign the contract, but I held him off until I had more time to think.
The firefighters held off the flames until backup units reached the scene.
Lastly, we can also use this application for situations in which you need to keep someone at a distance from you or to stop them from approaching you or going somewhere. In some of these cases, the phrasal verb 'hold back' could also be a good synonym for this.
The police used barriers to hold off the crowd.
Louise held off the reporters who were trying to get too close.
The security guards managed to hold off the fans until the singer had left the building.
If you see Malcolm approaching me at the party, can you try and hold him off and stop him from speaking to me. I can't forgive him for what he did!
So there we have it; three distinct ways to use the phrasal verb 'hold off'! Firstly, the idea of delaying doing something until a later, secondly the idea of bad weather staying away and (literally) not raining on your parade and lastly, the idea of resisting someone and physically stopping them achieving a goal.
I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'hold off'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'hold off'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
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