rollback

1 of 2

noun

roll·​back ˈrōl-ˌbak How to pronounce rollback (audio)
: the act or an instance of rolling back
a government-ordered rollback of gasoline prices

roll back

2 of 2

verb

rolled back; rolling back; rolls back

transitive verb

1
: to reduce (something, such as a commodity price) to or toward a previous level on a national scale
2
: to cause to retreat or withdraw : push back
3
: rescind
attempted to roll back antipollution standards

Example Sentences

Noun a government-ordered rollback of gasoline prices a rollback in environmental regulations a rollback of previous wage concessions Verb lobbyists for the industry pressured the legislators to roll back the new automotive safety standards
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
But the picture that is emerging is one in which a slow reaction in 2022 was not the sole problem: Silicon Valley Bank’s difficulties also appear to have come to the fore too late to fix them easily, in part because of the Trump-era rollbacks. Jeanna Smialek, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2023 Tennessee is under fire for new laws that take aim at drag performances, among other rollbacks of rights affecting the LGBTQ+ community. Chris Willman, Variety, 27 Mar. 2023 On Tuesday, Porter introduced a bill alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren — who recently endorsed her — that would repeal a central part of the 2018 rollback of the Dodd-Frank banking laws. Benjamin Oreskes, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2023 Virginia’s General Assembly rarely snubs a governor’s Cabinet nominee, but the Democrats strenuously objected to Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led a rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations as President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency chief. Washington Post, 12 Apr. 2022 His advice comes amid an uptick in cases following a rollback in measures aimed to slow the spread earlier in the pandemic. Byrick Klein,averi Harper, ABC News, 11 Apr. 2022 The 2018 rollback got rid of the $50 billion threshold, and made the enhanced regulations standard only for banks with at least $250 billion in assets. Allison Morrow, CNN, 28 Apr. 2023 Barbara Ferrer, director of the county’s department of public health, has frequently acknowledged that inequality in experience and warned that broad rollbacks of safety measures do not signify that Covid has vanished. Meg Bernhard, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2023 Democrats pressed the officials on whether gaps in regulation had allowed problems in the banking system to build after rollbacks under the Trump administration. Jeanna Smialek, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Mar. 2023
Verb
Republican wins against woke ESG investing and rolling back a Biden administration clean water rule will be shorter-lived. W. James Antle Iii, Washington Examiner, 7 Apr. 2023 Last fall, Ukrainian troops were closing in on Kherson, rolling back Russian forces who had seized the city after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine. Artem Grudinin, NBC News, 6 Apr. 2023 Spread a thin layer of strawberry jam (about 1 cup) and roll back up as tightly as possible without tearing. Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2023 But some economists say rolling back benefits to the poorest Americans is not to most effective path to easing price pressures. Abha Bhattarai, Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2023 Peltola raised concerns that the bill rolls back parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ signature $370 billion climate legislation, that encourage clean energy development. Riley Rogerson, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Mar. 2023 Later in the 1970s, Anita Bryant, a celebrity of the religious right, borrowed from segregationist parental rights rhetoric, launching a group called Save Our Children that successfully fought to roll back civil rights ordinances for gays and lesbians. Mary Ziegler, CNN, 30 Mar. 2023 Read full article Attempts to cordon off out-of-state students from voting in their campus towns or to roll back preregistration for teenagers have failed in New Hampshire and Virginia. Neil Vigdor, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Mar. 2023 Hold here for three seconds, then roll back until your hips are over your knees. Emily Shiffer, Women's Health, 29 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rollback.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1937, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1942, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of rollback was in 1937

Dictionary Entries Near rollback

roll back

rollback

roll bar

Cite this Entry

“Rollback.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rollback. Accessed 31 May. 2023.

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