as in to back out
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chicken (out)
Verb
-
Price kicked the ball back out to Barnett who fired up another 3 that missed as the final seconds ticked off.—
Steve Fryer,
Oc Register,
29 Jan. 2026 -
In the end, the night before the agreement was set to expire and a referendum had to be submitted, both boards decided to back out.—
Erik S. Hanley,
jsonline.com,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Negotiations have been stalled for months, and neither side appears close to backing down.—
Grant Stringer,
Mercury News,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Rodman, like many Black women in her position, wasn’t backing down.—
Kimberly Wilson,
Essence,
25 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
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
-
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
-
Some plants wimp out when temperatures soar—but not these heat-tolerant perennials.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
6 June 2025
-
These thick, long-lasting steamers will never wimp out mid-shower, and the cute packaging sure doesn't hurt either.—
Annie Blackman,
Allure,
16 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
But the president backed off after appeals from San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and tech executives, including Marc Benioff, the Salesforce CEO whose family name is attached to the Oakland children’s hospital.—
Julia Prodis Sulek,
Mercury News,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Healthy cells that still have their MGMT gene intact will simply pluck the methyl group back off.—
Isabella Backman,
Hartford Courant,
27 Jan. 2026
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.
Cite this Entry
“Chicken (out).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chicken%20%28out%29. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
