throttle back

phrasal verb

throttled back; throttling back; throttles back
: to reduce the amount of fuel flowing to an engine by adjusting the throttle
He throttled back to 45 mph.
sometimes used figuratively with respect to intensity
You need to throttle back your anger.

Examples of throttle back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Power plants across the eastern U.S. throttled back, blacking out homes in multiple states. Tom Winter, NBC News, 4 Feb. 2024 After the exporters throttled back supplies a year ago, de facto cartel leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia in recent months layered on additional cuts of their own. David Uberti, WSJ, 22 Nov. 2023 American drillers are throttling back in a sign that oil producers are wary about prices slipping lower. David Uberti, WSJ, 3 Nov. 2023 Lukas Schulze—Getty Images A sharp drop in sales of its F-150 Lightning has forced Ford to throttle back production of its flagship EV pickup just as excitement builds over the impending arrival of Tesla’s Cybertruck. Bychristiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 17 Oct. 2023 This has raised serious concerns about how the debt can be refinanced without forcing banks to take big writedowns and increase their capital cushions, which would prompt them to curb lending, throttling back the economy in the process. Larry Edelman, BostonGlobe.com, 26 May 2023 The felony murder rule In 2018, state law changed to throttle back what is known as the felony murder rule, which had allowed for anyone who took part in a felony that resulted in a killing to be charged with murder. Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Sep. 2023 But the recovery may now be running on fumes as refiners throttle back imports and switch to running down inventories. Time, 23 Aug. 2023 And the country that controls 70 percent of the world’s production, China, has threatened to throttle back its supply of rare-earth metals during trade and military negotiations with the U.S. and other nations. Andrew Zaleski, Popular Mechanics, 22 Aug. 2023

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

Dictionary Entries Near throttle back

Cite this Entry

“Throttle back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/throttle%20back. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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