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Forbear vs Withhold - What's the difference?

forbear | withhold | Related terms |

Forbear is a related term of withhold.


In lang=en terms the difference between forbear and withhold

is that forbear is to control oneself when provoked while withhold is to retain; to keep back; not to grant; as, to withhold assent to a proposition.

As verbs the difference between forbear and withhold

is that forbear is to keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up while withhold is to keep (a physical object that one has obtained) to oneself rather than giving it back to its owner.

As a noun forbear

is .

forbear

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) forberen, from (etyl) . (got)

Verb

  • To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.
  • To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xxii. 6
  • Shall I go to battle, or shall I forbear ?
  • To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel ii. 7
  • Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear .
  • To control oneself when provoked.
  • * Cowper
  • The kindest and the happiest pair / Will find occasion to forbear .
  • * Old proverb
  • Both bear and forbear .

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.
  • Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold [...]
  • * [1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia [http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=Eiji-EnuhXUC&pg=PA345&lpg=PA345&sig=aB2VV0fcWv6lkQPQatQQbDhlm_8]
  • One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group.
  • * 1997, H. L. Hix, Understanding W. S. Merwin [http://print.google.com/print?hl=en&id=8JIveUt8StQC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&sig=_AETFoZUYlti38_Va0zOHD4yZTk]
  • Beginning with the bald declaration “I think I was cold in the womb,” the speaker in “The Forbears'” then decides that his brother (who died soon after birth) must also have been cold in the womb, like his grandfather John and the ' forbears who antedated John:
    English heteronyms

    withhold

    English

    Verb

  • To keep (a physical object that one has obtained) to oneself rather than giving it back to its owner.
  • To keep (information, etc) to oneself rather than revealing it.
  • To retain; to keep back; not to grant; as, to withhold assent to a proposition.
  • Synonyms

    * retain

    Derived terms

    * overwithhold * underwithhold