FALLING BACK Synonyms: 42 Similar and Opposite Words

falling back

verb

present participle of fall back

as in retreating

to move back or away (as from something difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable) resistance from native forces was greater than expected, and the invading army was forced to fall back

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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 falling back MacKinnon initially crumpled to the ice in pain after blocking the shot, briefly getting to one knee and clearing the puck out of the defensive zone before falling back to the ice. —

Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 25 May 2026 After a couple of minutes, the booster separated with Starship, falling back to Earth to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico as planned a few minutes later. —

Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 22 May 2026 Roth told me about growing above criticism and falling back in love with Divergent. —

Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 12 May 2026 The price of the international benchmark for oil, Brent crude, rose to more than $126 a barrel at one point overnight — the highest since 2022, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine — before falling back to around $114 a barrel early Thursday. —

Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 30 Apr. 2026 Baker either avoided directly answering any questions related to the Massachusetts political arena, falling back on his new role at the NCAA for taking him away from the Bay State. —

Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 23 Apr. 2026 The Citi team, led by Max Layton and Francisco Martoccia, would then see Brent crude prices averaging around $110 this quarter before falling back to $80 in the fourth quarter. —

Brian Sullivan, CNBC, 22 Apr. 2026 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 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for falling back

Verb

Haiti continues to stand before far larger powers — culturally, economically, politically — without retreating.

— Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 May 2026
The video appears to show a person standing with a snow shovel outside the house, near the street, then retreating toward the house and tossing the shovel into the yard.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2026