withholding

/wɪθˈhoʊldɪŋ/UK/wɪθˈhəʊldɪŋ/

withholding is the present participle and gerund of withhold.

Noun

withholding (usually uncountable, plural withholdings)

(usually) The deduction of taxes from an employee's salary.
(usually) The tax so deducted, and paid to local or national government.

Meaning of withhold

Verb

withhold (third-person singular simple present withholds, present participle withholding, simple past withheld, past participle withheld or (rare, archaic) withholden)

(transitive) To keep (a physical object that one has obtained) to oneself rather than giving it back to its owner.
- The bank withheld her credit card.
Synonyms:

retain
(transitive) To keep (information, assent, etc.) to oneself rather than revealing it.
- withhold vital information
(intransitive) To stay back, to refrain.
- I’ll withhold from asking about it.

See all 4 meanings of withhold

Forms of withholding

plural	withholdings

Words formed from withholding

Phrases with withholding

withholding taxes

Questions about withholding

What does withholding mean?: Withholding means the deduction of taxes from an employee's salary.
What is withholding the present participle and gerund of?: Withholding is the present participle and gerund of withhold.
What part of speech is withholding?: Withholding is a noun.
How do you pronounce withholding?: Withholding is pronounced /wɪθˈhəʊldɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of withholding?: The plural of withholding is withholdings.

Words near withholding in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: withholding (page history and authors); withhold (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “withholding.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/withholding. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.