held off

past tense of hold off

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for held off
Verb
  • On the other hand, the American Heart Association shows a reduction or neutral effect on heart attacks when the clock is turned back.
    — Hannah Poukish, Sacbee.com, 28 Oct. 2026
  • That's when Daylight Saving Time ends, and clocks are turned back one hour.
    — Tammie Souza, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • All of this means Owens has had to take shifts in the kitchen, putting off her front-of-house duties and paperwork to her evenings and days off.
    — Ayesha Rascoe, NPR, 1 Nov. 2026
  • But anything governing those players will likely get put off until after the labor dispute is resolved.
    — Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 29 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Fred VanVleet made two free throws for the final points after Thompson turned away the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama in the lane as the Rockets started their season with two victories.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
  • He got stuffed by double-team blocks and turned away by larger Toronto wings, who manhandled the slighter forward in his attempts to create downhill momentum.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Ernest took a pretzel from his pocket and broke off pieces for Lyndon Johnson.
    — Madeline ffitch, Harpers Magazine, 27 Oct. 2026
  • After Kao’s 2020 indictment, the University of South Carolina broke off the partnership.
    — Molly Redden, ProPublica, 20 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • But the city resisted at the time, arguing that the federal consent decree did not require aid during dry weather events, according to the Banner.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The court vacated the policy nationwide, impacting not only the Justice Department's efforts to get data from the states that have resisted as well as states that had already voluntarily complied.
    — Eric McDaniel, NPR, 28 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • His autopsy has been completed, though an official cause of death has been deferred pending further investigation.
    — Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Highlands has proposed repaying the state through deductions from future state funding, but the bankruptcy court deferred a decision on that proposal until the final hearing in November.
    — Chaewon Chung, Sacbee.com, 15 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office opposed recusal.
    — Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 31 Oct. 2026
  • The arch is opposed by a small group of veterans and an architectural historian who sued in federal court in Washington, saying Congress must endorse the project.
    — Gary Fields, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • The game was one of many across the Southland delayed or postponed by lightning, particularly in Orange County.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2026
  • This happened despite the fact that calculations of orbital forcings, together with modeling of how carbon dioxide interferes with glacial inception, have suggested the next ice age was postponed by tens of thousands of years.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 24 Oct. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Held off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/held%20off. Accessed 4 Nov. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster