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

Deputies went back to the home with PCSO's agriculture detective and were let inside by the teenager. —Elizabeth Pritchett, FOXNews.com, 7 Aug. 2025

So the matter went back to the City Council Planning and Development Committee in May and was recommended for approval, despite facing some opposition from residents and advocates. —Molly Morrow, Chicago Tribune, 6 Aug. 2025

The song goes back to 1965, predating my first reading of the script in 1985. —Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 6 Aug. 2025

Blackstone's reps, and a whole lot of cast-iron folk wisdom going back decades, recommend that your first cook be a whole griddle full of onions, to further even out the seasoning. —Matthew Korfhage, Wired News, 6 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for go back

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