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Glite Dictionary
💰 Delayed money ⛔ An obstacle
holdback

holdback

1 6.1
An amount of money or goods kept until agreed conditions are met
  • noun
  • /ˈhoʊldˌbæk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : retención
  • The contractor requested a holdback of 10% until the project is finished.
  • dealer holdback
  • profit called holdback
  • 3% holdback

Examples

  • We had to implement a holdback on the payments.

  • The studio enforced a six-month holdback before the movie could appear on streaming services.

  • A holdback was put in place to delay the show's international broadcast.

  • Distributors often negotiate the length of a holdback to maximize profits in different markets.

  • To ensure a smooth transaction, the buyer requested a holdback of 20% until the repairs were completed.

  • The real estate contract included a holdback to cover potential issues discovered during the inspection.

  • In the sale of the property, the seller agreed to a holdback for repairs that needed to be finished before closing.

Antonyms

release
149 3.6

The act of letting a liquid, gas, or energy flow out

How Much

seizure
  • Formal
71 6.1
holdback
  • Specialized
1 6.1
deduction
115 3.0

Surface Forms

holdback singular
holdbacks plural

Morphology

holdback = hold (transparent) = back + hold

The noun is directly formed from the verb phrase 'hold back' (hold + back) meaning 'to keep back', so learners who know 'hold' and 'back' can infer the meaning. [Postprocessing: moved 'back' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

The word holdback breaks into hold ('to keep') and back ('behind'), so it literally means 'kept back'. That's why a holdback is money or goods that are kept until certain rules or conditions are met.