double back
phrasal verb
doubled back; doubling back; doubles back
: to turn around and return on the same path
I'm going to double back to see if I dropped the ring on the way here.
Examples of double back in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Mario doubled back for the Alabama cleansing, Nick Saban’s football version of a papal blessing and three years on staff making Mario hirable again.
—
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 17 Jan. 2026
Traffic going the other way had to follow a convoluted detour before doubling back to his business.
—John Aguilar, Denver Post, 5 Jan. 2026
Then resume your drive by doubling back past Panama City to El Valle de Antón, a town built inside the crater of an extinct volcano.
—David Amsden, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Dec. 2025
Blaxell displays a kind of flexible intelligence throughout the book — her sentences dart forward and double back on themselves.
—Emma Alpern, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
After that first week, Preller doubled back.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Nov. 2025
But that principle was abandoned nine years later, with the court doubling back on its position.
—Andrea Katz, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
Johnson and Brown initially ran off; however, Brown later doubled back and was shot again, this time to death.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Williams won two mixed doubles back in 1998 and was never likely to add a third here.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
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Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 17 Jan. 2026
Traffic going the other way had to follow a convoluted detour before doubling back to his business.
—John Aguilar, Denver Post, 5 Jan. 2026
Then resume your drive by doubling back past Panama City to El Valle de Antón, a town built inside the crater of an extinct volcano.
—David Amsden, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Dec. 2025
Blaxell displays a kind of flexible intelligence throughout the book — her sentences dart forward and double back on themselves.
—Emma Alpern, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
After that first week, Preller doubled back.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Nov. 2025
But that principle was abandoned nine years later, with the court doubling back on its position.
—Andrea Katz, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
Johnson and Brown initially ran off; however, Brown later doubled back and was shot again, this time to death.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Williams won two mixed doubles back in 1998 and was never likely to add a third here.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Double back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double%20back. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
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