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
In the gondola on the way back down the mountain to Telluride, Cannes Film Festival topper Thierry Frémaux hops on at the halfway station.
—
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025
Hold for a few seconds, and then lower back down with control.
—Jakob Roze, Health, 2 Sep. 2025
Campbell last played for Boston in June before the MLB club sent him back down to Triple-A Worcester.
—Tim Crowley, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
But that brief period of openness and luxury ended quickly, with international sanctions clamping back down in 2003.
—Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 1 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back down
Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025
Hold for a few seconds, and then lower back down with control.
—Jakob Roze, Health, 2 Sep. 2025
Campbell last played for Boston in June before the MLB club sent him back down to Triple-A Worcester.
—Tim Crowley, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025
But that brief period of openness and luxury ended quickly, with international sanctions clamping back down in 2003.
—Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 1 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back down
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back down
Verb
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By the time Sega backed out of the hardware race post-Dreamcast, Shinobi mostly limped on with a couple of 3D entries for PlayStation and Nintendo platforms before fading into obscurity.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
3 Sep. 2025
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The driver was trying to back out, but the tires were just spinning in the mud.—
Harriet Ramos,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In both cases, Tibetans immediately backed off.—
Tenzin Dorjee,
Foreign Affairs,
1 Sep. 2025
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Discomfort is a sign to back off.—
Deirdre Bardolf,
FOXNews.com,
30 Aug. 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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The Food and Drug Administration is recalling frozen shrimp sold at Walmart for possible radioactive chemical contamination.—
Cheryl V. Jackson,
IndyStar,
21 Aug. 2025
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The Food and Drug Administration is recalling frozen shrimp sold at Walmart, including stores in Ohio and Kentucky, for possible radioactive chemical contamination.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
The Enquirer,
21 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Back down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back%20down. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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