as in withdrawing
to move back or away (as from something difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable)
backed away from the snake very slowly and carefully
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Recent Examples of backing away
Video footage from the apartment complex showed Kirkland speaking to several people in the Jeep before backing away and collapsing, the court document said.
—
Caroline Zimmerman, Kansas City Star, 9 Apr. 2026
In that interaction, forehead-to-forehead with Ayers and then slowly backing away, back to his bench, Hurley never blinked.
—Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 31 Mar. 2026
As officers yell for Martinez to stop, Stevens pulls his weapon and rapidly fires three shots through the window before quickly backing away.
—Arkansas Online, 8 Mar. 2026
As officers yell for Martinez to stop, Stevens pulls his weapon and rapidly fires three shots through the window before quickly backing away.
—ABC News, 7 Mar. 2026
Rather than backing away from these practices, the administration has now publicly doubled down.
—Amanda Cats-Baril, Twin Cities, 4 Mar. 2026
The hopes of people opposed to ICE’s plans rested on the property owners of the warehouses backing away from the deals — but that has failed to happen.
—Lautaro Grinspan, AJC.com, 25 Feb. 2026
Finally, the city is now backing away from its idea to charge to drive into Mission Bay Park and is instead looking at other options for solving its budget crisis.
—Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Feb. 2026
In a nation backing away from previous diversity commitments, there is little societal pressure for NFL owners to be better.
—Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2026
Caroline Zimmerman, Kansas City Star, 9 Apr. 2026
In that interaction, forehead-to-forehead with Ayers and then slowly backing away, back to his bench, Hurley never blinked.
—Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 31 Mar. 2026
As officers yell for Martinez to stop, Stevens pulls his weapon and rapidly fires three shots through the window before quickly backing away.
—Arkansas Online, 8 Mar. 2026
As officers yell for Martinez to stop, Stevens pulls his weapon and rapidly fires three shots through the window before quickly backing away.
—ABC News, 7 Mar. 2026
Rather than backing away from these practices, the administration has now publicly doubled down.
—Amanda Cats-Baril, Twin Cities, 4 Mar. 2026
The hopes of people opposed to ICE’s plans rested on the property owners of the warehouses backing away from the deals — but that has failed to happen.
—Lautaro Grinspan, AJC.com, 25 Feb. 2026
Finally, the city is now backing away from its idea to charge to drive into Mission Bay Park and is instead looking at other options for solving its budget crisis.
—Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Feb. 2026
In a nation backing away from previous diversity commitments, there is little societal pressure for NFL owners to be better.
—Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backing away
Verb
-
Lebanese officials have pushed for a ceasefire, while Israel has framed the negotiations around Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace deal, without publicly committing to halting hostilities or withdrawing its forces.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Apr. 2026
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Jason Baer, the lawyer who’d shared several cases with Motta, began the process of withdrawing as co-counsel at the first sign of a federal investigation.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Glaciers all over the world -- especially in Antarctica -- are also retreating at a rapid pace, recent research shows.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Apr. 2026
-
The alarmed father then began retreating while shouting for their daughter to drive away.—
Bonny Chu,
FOXNews.com,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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While the monologue was a blast of fresh chaos (or at least the sense of chaos) with Black jamming out with White, the rest of the show didn’t have the same kind of verve, falling back on familiar sketch formulas.—
Omar L. Gallaga,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Apr. 2026
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Another one is about leftover debris from the original stellar collision slowly falling back onto the star over millions of years.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Michigan and Illinois met in the semifinals in 1989, with the Wolverines pulling out a two-point win in a game that featured 33 lead changes.—
Sean Hammond,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Apr. 2026
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Clearly, Jenner is known for pulling out all the stops for Halloween.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Longhorns are the one team in the Final Four that has had a two-game losing streak, dropping back-to-back games to LSU and South Carolina in mid-January.—
David Brandt,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Apr. 2026
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Last week, the quarterback shared a video of himself dropping back to throw on his official Instagram account.—
Pete Sweeney,
Kansas City Star,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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More In 2018, Xcel Energy was the first energy company to commit to being 100% carbon free, with plans to build up wind, geothermal, solar, and storage while retiring its coal plants.—
Steve Gelsi,
semafor.com,
14 Apr. 2026
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During his final flight before retiring, the pilot reportedly flew the Boeing 757 extremely low over his hometown of Vestmannaeyjar, located off the southern coast of Iceland, without authorization from Icelandair.—
Natalia Senanayake,
PEOPLE,
14 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Backing away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backing%20away. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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