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
The person recalls one episode when Kimbal was contemplating laying off 10% of the company’s engineering staff — apparently at Elon’s suggestion — only to back off after receiving internal pushback.
—
John Hyatt, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2025
The new restrictions follow an NPR report that Trump had backed off from pursuing the H20 controls, in exchange for Nvidia investing in data centers.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 16 Apr. 2025
Even if investors are slightly more confident this week, after Trump backed off most of his harshest tariff rates, the changes in people’s life-style habits serve as their own kind of affective barometer.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 16 Apr. 2025
Lawmakers proposed requiring such facilities to repay deposits, but backed off when retirement community operators warned such measures would jeopardize their business.
—Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 15 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back off
John Hyatt, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2025
The new restrictions follow an NPR report that Trump had backed off from pursuing the H20 controls, in exchange for Nvidia investing in data centers.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 16 Apr. 2025
Even if investors are slightly more confident this week, after Trump backed off most of his harshest tariff rates, the changes in people’s life-style habits serve as their own kind of affective barometer.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 16 Apr. 2025
Lawmakers proposed requiring such facilities to repay deposits, but backed off when retirement community operators warned such measures would jeopardize their business.
—Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 15 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back off
Verb
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But the financial and stock markets have not fully recovered from rising fears around the globe that Trump will not back down from slapping higher levies on foreign nations.—
Mabinty Quarshie,
The Washington Examiner,
30 Apr. 2025
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Many business owners back down at the first sign of conflict, undermining their credibility.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
29 Apr. 2025
Verb
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This was a month for big festivals, with two weekends of Coachella and one of Stagecoach all back to back out in Indio, Calif., and of just-as-big tour kickoffs, with both our Greatest Pop Star of 2024 and our Greatest Pop Star of the entire 21st Century launching their most recent treks.—
Andrew Unterberger,
Billboard,
1 May 2025
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The Mets backed out due to concern over a hip issue with Gomez.—
Ken Rosenthal,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 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 13 May. 2025.
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