as in to back down
to break a promise or agreement
you'd better not back off on your promise to do all the planning for the big dance
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Recent Examples of back off
Canada’s Prime Minister-elect Mark Carney is warning President Trump to back off after scoring a convincing victory in an election driven by north-of-the-border anger over the mushrooming trade war and annexation threats.
—
Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 29 Apr. 2025
The other benefit of Amad playing at right wing-back is his understanding of when to jump up the pitch and when to back off.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
The corporate elite are playing nice, hoping that doing so will buy them time before President Donald Trump backs off on his profit-eroding, stock-depressing tariffs.
—Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 30 Apr. 2025
All that had to be done was to get Ukraine to back off its unrealistic demands for a return of all its territory, at which point Putin would seize the chance to buy time to repair his economy and replenish his troops and materiel.
—Robert Kagan, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back off
Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 29 Apr. 2025
The other benefit of Amad playing at right wing-back is his understanding of when to jump up the pitch and when to back off.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
The corporate elite are playing nice, hoping that doing so will buy them time before President Donald Trump backs off on his profit-eroding, stock-depressing tariffs.
—Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 30 Apr. 2025
All that had to be done was to get Ukraine to back off its unrealistic demands for a return of all its territory, at which point Putin would seize the chance to buy time to repair his economy and replenish his troops and materiel.
—Robert Kagan, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back off
Verb
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The salary aprons will bring the top teams back down in a season or so.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
12 May 2025
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He was sent back down to Triple-A after some early struggles.—
Aaliyan Mohammed,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 May 2025
Verb
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Trainers wrapped Kornet’s arm up, sent him back out there, and watched his energy catalyze the rest of his team.—
Jared Weiss,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
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American Promise, Journalism and Sandman are the only three Derby horses lining up for this year’s Preakness, after Sovereignty backed out citing the tight turnaround.—
Sam Cohn,
Baltimore Sun,
12 May 2025
Verb
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About 20 minutes later, the two cops out in front were joined by a third officer.—
Melody Chiu,
People.com,
7 Jan. 2025
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The judges avoid giving critiques to the girls this week but do talk among one another, which is kind of weird but also means that nobody gets to cop out of Rate-a-Queen and just imitate the judges.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
3 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Back off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back%20off. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
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