go back

phrasal verb

went back; gone back; going back; goes back

1

: to return to a place

I forgot my purse and had to go back for it.

After college she went back home.

Go back inside! You'll catch cold.

2

: to return to doing something

I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep.

He waved hello, then went right back to work.

She went back to eating her dinner.

3

: to have existed for a particular amount of time or since a particular period

These ruins go back hundreds of years.

4

: to have known each other for an amount of time

We go back 30 years.

He and I go back a long way.

5

: to think or talk about something from the past

To fully understand the issues, we have to go back a few years.

Examples of go back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

His ties to the president go back to their overlapping service in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in the late 1990s. —CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2025

The veteran went back to his life in the Air Force and completed his service on a military base in Wyoming before being honorably discharged in 2019. —Celia Fernandez mickey Todiwala, CNBC, 18 Oct. 2025

Wait for 30 minutes after the last lightning or thunder before going back out. —Kansas City Star Weather Bot, Kansas City Star, 18 Oct. 2025

With the stalemate broken, Fox and Croughwell went back to their respective duties. —Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2025

Rhymes for go back

• aback
• anzac
• attack
• backpack
• backtrack
• bareback
• blackjack
• brownback
• buyback
• callback
• cognac
• comeback