date back
idiom
: to have come into being (a number of years ago)
a custom that dates back 400 years
Examples of date back in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Records of boxwood plantings date back to the 1700s, and Ohio nurseries' boxwood inventory is valued at over $200 million, the blog reports, citing the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
—
Chad Murphy, Cincinnati Enquirer, 2 Oct. 2025
These chemical fossils—the molecular remnants of once-living organisms that have been buried, transformed, and preserved in sediment over time—were discovered in rocks that date back to more than 541 million years ago, during the Ediacaran Period.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Many of the properties date back to the mid-1900s.
—Holly Yan, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2025
Other closures date back decades.
—Mary Clare Jalonick, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for date back
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Chad Murphy, Cincinnati Enquirer, 2 Oct. 2025
These chemical fossils—the molecular remnants of once-living organisms that have been buried, transformed, and preserved in sediment over time—were discovered in rocks that date back to more than 541 million years ago, during the Ediacaran Period.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Many of the properties date back to the mid-1900s.
—Holly Yan, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2025
Other closures date back decades.
—Mary Clare Jalonick, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for date back
Cite this Entry
“Date back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/date%20back. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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