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

Written accounts of betel nut chewing go back approximately 2,000 years, while previous archaeological evidence goes back about 3,500 years. — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 21 Sep. 2026

But when her husband went back to the park, almost everything was gone. — Jenisha Watts, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2026

Sediment cores from Little Packer Lake, in the Sacramento River floodplain, record floods of the same magnitude about every century or two going back a thousand years. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 20 Sep. 2026

His Aces Tailgate goes back nearly 50 years and the home opener is practically Christmas Day. — Marissa Sulek, CBS News, 20 Sep. 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