Hold your tongue means to stay silent and stop yourself from saying what you really want to say. People usually do it to be polite or to avoid a quarrel. The command Hold your tongue! sounds harsh and old-fashioned, so it is more common to talk about yourself: I held my tongue. In an essay, write keep quiet or say nothing instead.
When would you say hold your tongue?
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hold + my/your/her + tongue; have to / try to + hold your tongue
- I wanted to complain about the cold soup, but I held my tongue because my mother-in-law had cooked it.
- When my manager blamed me for his mistake, it was really hard to hold my tongue.
What changed
First versionI wanted to argue with the referee, but I kept my tongue behind my teeth.
RevisionI wanted to argue with the referee, but I held my tongue.
Kept my tongue behind my teeth may sound like an idiom, but English doesn't have it. The English idiom has no teeth in it and uses a different verb: hold your tongue, so that part was replaced. Note what the idiom is about: not keeping a secret, but stopping yourself from voicing an opinion or a complaint.
Bite your tongue means almost the same but stresses that it was hard to stay silent: I had to bite my tongue when he laughed at my accent. If you mean keeping a secret, a different expression fits: keep a secret or keep something to yourself.
Your turn
My aunt criticised my cooking all evening, but I ___ because I didn't want to ruin the family dinner.
Show the answer
held my tongue — The speaker didn't want to ruin the family dinner, so they stayed silent: held my tongue. Spoke my mind means “said openly what I thought”, which is exactly what could have ruined the evening.
Think of a time when you wanted to object but stayed silent. Say who said what and why you decided not to argue.
When my colleague said my idea was too expensive, I held my tongue because the director was going to make the final decision anyway.
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