as in to back down
to break a promise or agreement
she backed out on her offer to help with the wedding planning
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of back out
Utah prep receiver Kai Meza backed out of his commitment to the Gophers football program on Sunday.
—
Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 28 Sep. 2025
Now, it’s been open about a month, customers are flowing in at a steady clip and rave reviews are pouring back out.
—Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 24 Sep. 2025
The president backed out of a meeting tentatively planned for Thursday after a top Republican panned the talks.
—Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 24 Sep. 2025
James, who played Dawson Leery on the show for its six seasons, had to back out of the event due to illness, but surprised the audience with virtual appearances during the show.
—Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back out
Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 28 Sep. 2025
Now, it’s been open about a month, customers are flowing in at a steady clip and rave reviews are pouring back out.
—Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 24 Sep. 2025
The president backed out of a meeting tentatively planned for Thursday after a top Republican panned the talks.
—Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 24 Sep. 2025
James, who played Dawson Leery on the show for its six seasons, had to back out of the event due to illness, but surprised the audience with virtual appearances during the show.
—Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back out
Verb
-
The White House backed down, but Nixon’s directive had been recorded.—
Douglas M. Charles,
The Conversation,
3 Oct. 2025
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Kimmel is once again on the air throughout the country now that rebellious affiliate owners Nexstar and Sinclair have backed down and agreed to resume airing his ABC late-night show after a weeklong standoff.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Trump had earlier suggested Chicago could be the next target of a National Guard deployment but has since backed off out of concern that doing so without Pritzker’s agreement could create legal headache, sources familiar with the matter told CNN last month.—
Hanna Park,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
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Without their back pressure, defencemen need to back off and give the opposing rush space to avoid getting beat.—
Arpon Basu,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 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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Guiu was recalled to the mothership after just over three weeks.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
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Residents recall a mass exodus of plant workers, whose sizable salaries once circulated through the county.—
Miranda Dunlap,
jsonline.com,
6 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Back out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back%20out. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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