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 The sellout crowd of 42,131 rose for a standing ovation when Scherzer took the mound alone before the game, with his teammates briefly hanging back in the dugout. — ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026 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
  • With more than seven million people packed into over 9,000 high-rises, efficiency is key here, and people will judge you for holding up lines, hesitating with your Octopus card, or lingering over your dim sum table while others are waiting.
    — Lee Cobaj, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Oct. 2026
  • But experts have worried that doctors are hesitating to offer treatment without an ironclad diagnosis, which clinicians say can take time and increase risks to the mother.
    — Andrea Suozzo, ProPublica, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of hesitating
Verb
  • There were early indicators that both programs and public engagement were faltering under the board’s new leadership.
    — E. Andrew Taylor, The Conversation, 25 Sep. 2026
  • The grandees of Gullen have set their hopes on Claire’s bankrolling their faltering community’s recovery.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of faltering

Browse Nearby Words

hanging (at)
hanging back
hanging fire
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

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

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