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
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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
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
Verb
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Although police still can use less-lethal weapons to contain unruly demonstrators, the city claimed the rules put officers at risk of hesitating in chaotic situations.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Jan. 2026
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Survey respondents shared multiple ways that unemployment can have a negative impact including cancelling dates for financial reasons and hesitating to even ask someone out at all.—
Gili Malinsky,
CNBC,
13 Jan. 2026
Verb
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And his retribution campaign—faltering to this point, to be sure—targeted the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who is now the subject of a Justice Department investigation.—
Jonathan Lemire,
The Atlantic,
13 Jan. 2026
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The other half sees an economy on the verge of faltering, with rising unemployment, that needs easier money to avoid recession.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
9 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hanging back.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hanging%20back. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
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