as in backed off
to break a promise or agreement
she backed out on her offer to help with the wedding planning
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Recent Examples of backed out
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
An opportunity arose in the second season, but Martin backed out, according to Vulture.
—Eric Andersson, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
On Thursday, in a unanimous vote, the Kansas City City Council voted to do away with the 130-foot height restriction on the parcel where a new Nordstrom department store had once been planned, before the company backed out in 2022.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 12 Sep. 2025
Quintana said some organizations and companies backed out of sponsorships or being part of the march this year.
—Shannon Tyler, Idaho Statesman, 6 Sep. 2025
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
Eight selective colleges signed on last spring to accept Dialogues portfolios as part of a pilot project, but two of them — Vanderbilt University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — backed out in July.
—Tyler Kingkade, NBC news, 28 Aug. 2025
Phoenix has backed out of a tentative settlement with Nubia Rodriguez, the woman wrongly charged in the 2019 traffic death of a Phoenix police officer.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 18 Aug. 2025
The company backed out in 2013, citing poor market conditions.
—Tony Schick, ProPublica, 14 Aug. 2025
Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 24 Sep. 2025
An opportunity arose in the second season, but Martin backed out, according to Vulture.
—Eric Andersson, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
On Thursday, in a unanimous vote, the Kansas City City Council voted to do away with the 130-foot height restriction on the parcel where a new Nordstrom department store had once been planned, before the company backed out in 2022.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 12 Sep. 2025
Quintana said some organizations and companies backed out of sponsorships or being part of the march this year.
—Shannon Tyler, Idaho Statesman, 6 Sep. 2025
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
Eight selective colleges signed on last spring to accept Dialogues portfolios as part of a pilot project, but two of them — Vanderbilt University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — backed out in July.
—Tyler Kingkade, NBC news, 28 Aug. 2025
Phoenix has backed out of a tentative settlement with Nubia Rodriguez, the woman wrongly charged in the 2019 traffic death of a Phoenix police officer.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 18 Aug. 2025
The company backed out in 2013, citing poor market conditions.
—Tony Schick, ProPublica, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backed out
Verb
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When Parsons then tried to get his agent involved before putting ink to paper, Jones backed off the deal.—
Jon Machota,
New York Times,
24 Sep. 2025
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Small and mid-sized countries that were energetically pursuing Security Council reform have backed off and are waiting for a clear signal of what—if anything—Trump will say about it.—
Richard Gowan,
Time,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The agency backed down within two months.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
18 Sep. 2025
-
Eventually, the White House and the Treasury backed down.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Backed out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backed%20out. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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