HELD DOWN Synonyms: 30 Similar and Opposite Words

held down

verb

past tense of hold down

as in limited

to set bounds or an upper limit for efforts to hold down taxes keep running up against the legislature's ingrained unwillingness to cut spending

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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.

Recent Examples of held down Profit is simply what remains after wages are held down, taxes are minimized, and costs are pushed onto workers, communities, and the environment. — Christopher Marquis, Time, 16 Oct. 2026 Roth was born in Denver, graduated with a psychology degree from the University of Colorado Denver, and held down jobs managing, serving and bartending. — Miguel Otárola, Denver Post, 7 Oct. 2026 With the trigger held down, the controller did a good job monitoring changes in acceleration and countering the wagon’s speed to maintain my walking pace. — Thomas Ricker, The Verge, 6 Oct. 2026 But the production here betrays its economy, and the direction, by Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, remains earthbound, held down by mournful strings and devoid of color. — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026 While the victim was being held down, the 17-year-old boy allegedly pulled down his own pants and underwear and sat on the victim's chest. — Steven Rosenbaum, CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026 Kobe Bryant’s signature line had held down Clark through college in her first WNBA years, but there weren’t any overt attempts to pay homage to the series. — Ian Servantes, Footwear News, 14 Sep. 2026 When the button is held down, a section of the bracelet pops open to reveal the time. — Carol Besler, Robb Report, 10 Sep. 2026 Banks himself, meanwhile, has held down the low end on the three studio albums Interpol has made in that timespan (2014’s masterful El Pintor, 2018’s Marauder, and 2022’s The Other Side of Make-Believe). — Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for held down

Verb

Mound visits are prohibited, each inning is treated as a separate contest, and games are limited to two hours.

— Adam Thompson, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
Usually the footprint is limited, the window short and official box office intel zero.

— Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of limited

Verb

Users were likely restricted from properly spelling out such words because, by design, the platform prevents emoji from being used more than once in reaction to a post.

— ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
Remember, Googlebooks are restricted to running Android apps, which generally aren't as fully featured as their PC and Mac counterparts.

— Joe Osborne, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of restricted

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held back

held down

held forth

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

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Synonyms of held down

verb

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