hanging back

verb

present participle of hang back
as in hesitating
to show uncertainty about the right course of action she hung back in offering her opinion about her daughter's career choices because it wasn't her business

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 hanging back Dad is hanging back in the doorway. — Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025 After Fester fried the hospital's power grid, allowing the LOIS patients to escape and begin attacking Judi, Wednesday noticed that one female patient was hanging back. — Megan McCluskey, Time, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hanging back
  1. hesitating
  2. faltering
Verb
  • Cueto was known for hesitating while in his pitching motion, or wiggling on the mound.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 12 Aug. 2026
  • So electric power companies and regulators are cautious, hesitating to construct plants unless future demand is guaranteed.
    — Laurent Belsie, Christian Science Monitor, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of hesitating
Verb
  • But to arrest that decline, governments will have to address the faltering state capacity that is driving it.
    — Jennifer Pahlka, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
  • After Stearns and Kostyuk won the first six points, the Williams sisters cut the deficit to one before eventually faltering on Venus’ double-fault on the final point.
    — Anna Lazarus Caplan, PEOPLE, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of faltering

Browse Nearby Words

hanging (at)
hanging back
hanging fire
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Cite this Entry

“Hanging back.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hanging%20back. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

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