backs away

verb

present tense third-person singular of back away
as in retreats
to move back or away (as from something difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable) backed away from the snake very slowly and carefully

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of backs away As the boy backs away, the family's husky mix, Bella, is seen running over from across the yard and chasing the bear away, circling behind the animal and placing itself in between the bear and the boy. — Mason Leib, ABC News, 7 July 2026 For nearly two agonizing minutes, the bear runs toward her then backs away, rearing up on its hind legs several times, revealing its massive size. — Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 26 June 2026 The team does an organized shuffle to get things in order, and almost everyone watching with me backs away slightly. — Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 6 May 2026 Jones then slows down to a walk as Prignano backs away. — Kellie Love, Hartford Courant, 3 Mar. 2026 In instances when an agent approaches, a patroller typically backs away while recording the interaction, video footage posted to Union del Barrio’s YouTube page shows. — Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Feb. 2026 The officer in the black beanie backs away with his gun drawn, though pointed down. — Yahya Abou-Ghazala, CNN Money, 30 Jan. 2026 Videos show an officer, who is hovering over the scuffle with his right hand on Pretti’s back, backs away from the group with what appears to be a gun in his right hand just before the first shot. — Hannah Fingerhut, Twin Cities, 25 Jan. 2026 Those detours foreshadowed Paris, where the styling again backs away from surface-level pink and redistributes it to the interior. — Maggie Clancy, Footwear News, 8 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backs away
  1. retreats
  2. withdraws
  3. drops back
  4. falls back
  5. retires
Verb
  • After Will’s funeral, Alice retreats to her in-laws’ remote, dilapidated house, where, through the Necronomicon, a demonic spirit is unleashed and begins to turn the family members into Deadites.
    — Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
  • When Aries pushes harder, Cancer retreats further, and neither feels understood.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 24 June 2026
Definition of retreats
Verb
  • If a candidate withdraws after that July 13 deadline, the party does not have any way to nominate a replacement.
    — Oren Oppenheim, ABC News, 6 July 2026
  • Al Gore, John McCain suspends his campaign for the Republican nomination for president, and Bill Bradley withdraws from the race for the Democratic nomination.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 July 2026
Definition of withdraws
Verb
  • After the front, the humidity drops back off the scale, meaning that Thursday and Friday will be very comfy and dry.
    — Terry Eliasen, CBS News, 18 May 2026
  • If the opposing quarterback drops back to pass, Downs can be effective, as well.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 20 Apr. 2026
Definition of drops back
Verb
  • Any good striker should be looking to pounce on a ball that falls back into the danger area, but the numbers suggest the rate of goals scored via rebounds looks particularly high compared with previous tournaments.
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 24 June 2026
  • The endeavor calls for an untested spacecraft built by the Arizona company Katalyst Space Technologies to rendezvous and dock with Swift — something the observatory was never designed to do — before the observatory falls back to Earth.
    — Tariq Malik, Space.com, 19 June 2026
Definition of falls back
Verb
  • Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, the world’s first female prime minister, retires, and her daughter, Pres.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 July 2026
  • The short version is that after defeating the Kilrathi at the climax of Wing Commander 3, Mark Hamill’s Christopher Blair retires to a backwater world to live out a life in peace and obscurity.
    — Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 3 July 2026
Definition of retires

Browse Nearby Words

backs
backs away
backs down
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Cite this Entry

“Backs away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backs%20away. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

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