go back

verb

went back; gone back; going back; goes back

intransitive

1

: to return to a place, activity, or situation

I forgot my phone and had to go back.

I left school but later went back.

Once you do this, there's no going back. [=you cannot undo what has been done]

2

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

traditions that go back to ancient times

3

: to have known each other for a particular amount of time or for a long time

We go back 30 years.

They go way back.

4

: to think or talk about something from the past

To understand, you have to go back to when it started.

see also:

go back on

Examples of go back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Victory cigars are one of the oldest traditions in the rivalry, going back almost 70 years to an Alabama trainer named Jim Goostree, who started handing them out after wins over Tennessee. — Austin Evans, Southern Living, 19 Oct. 2026

And then, actually, what was cool was that the Palestinians then went back out to their olive harvest. — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026

At the end of the day, money spent on admission and parking goes back to Texans year-round through education and agriculture. — Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Oct. 2026

Regardless of how that allocation happens on what timeline, at some point, enough money will go back into Starlink Mobile to pose a real threat to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, and that is just a matter of time. — Nilay Patel, The Verge, 17 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for go back

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