walk back

verb

walked back; walking back; walks back

transitive verb

US

: to retreat from or distance oneself from (a previously stated opinion or position)

… try not to say anything in the primary campaign that you might need to walk back in the general election.

—The Progressive Populist

… has tried to walk back his suggestion about Japan, in particular, claiming in recent days that he "never said" that the Asian nation should acquire nuclear weapons.

—Julian Hattem

Examples of walk back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After Marvel initially renewed the Destin Daniel Cretton-Andrew Guest series for Season 2 in March, the studio walked back that decision and canceled the series this week. — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 30 July 2026

That was walked back by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma almost immediately, though not all the way, and with the caveat that Call of Duty games would no longer be day one on Game Pass. — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026

Although License told police that the victim hit his wife, investigators said the surveillance footage did not show any physical contact between the two, and the victim was walking back to his truck when the shots rang out. — Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 26 July 2026

On May 17, Deborah Murphy, an 82-year-old grandmother, was walking back to her car on a crosswalk outside a Publix in Panama City Beach when she was struck by a Toyota 4Runner, according to court records. — Natasha Holt, FOXNews.com, 26 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

2000, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for walk back

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