as in to back out
to break a promise or agreement
if you back down about dinner again, I'm not going to agree to another date
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of back down
Ruff later tried Zucker on that line and moved Krebs back down the lineup.
—
Matthew Fairburn, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
The President, en route back to Washington, had Mitchell and the White House counsel, John Ehrlichman, draft a statement backing down even further.
—Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2025
The White House backed down, but Nixon’s directive had been recorded.
—Douglas M. Charles, The Conversation, 3 Oct. 2025
There’s a scene with a military leader telling Murrow’s producer Fred Friendly to back down, and that Murrow was basically a communist.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back down
Matthew Fairburn, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
The President, en route back to Washington, had Mitchell and the White House counsel, John Ehrlichman, draft a statement backing down even further.
—Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2025
The White House backed down, but Nixon’s directive had been recorded.
—Douglas M. Charles, The Conversation, 3 Oct. 2025
There’s a scene with a military leader telling Murrow’s producer Fred Friendly to back down, and that Murrow was basically a communist.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back down
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back down
Verb
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Plus, the captain tells Lo that the passenger assigned to cabin 10 backed out days before departure.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Oct. 2025
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But the ocean spits her back out.—
Matthew Jacobs,
Vulture,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Despite increasingly menacing warnings to back off and stop prying into the lives of rich power players thorny about their privacy, Lo remains determined to get to the truth.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Oct. 2025
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The five-time major winner was heckled relentlessly, forced to back off putts due to crowd noise, and even went after a spectator who threw a beer at his wife, Erica, but was pulled back by officials.—
Devlina Sarkar,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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On Thursday, there were 652 officers on the force, with nearly 100 cops out on some kind of administrative or medical leave.—
Shomik Mukherjee,
Mercury News,
8 Aug. 2025
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But with that brief wave of hope came new footage on Twitter every night of the NYPD acting like bad cops out of a Harvey Keitel flick: cops harassing peaceful crowds, cops kettling activists, cops literally driving a car into a crowd of protestors.—
Maris Kreizman,
Rolling Stone,
24 June 2025
Verb
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Allen recalls meeting Keaton for the first time while auditioning actresses at the old Morosco Theatre for his play Play It Again, alongside the producer David Merrick.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
13 Oct. 2025
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On a late-summer day, the 57-year-old Puerto Rican recalls his time at Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan with fondness.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
13 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Back down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back%20down. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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