date back
idiom
: to have come into being (a number of years ago)
a custom that dates back 400 years
Examples of date back in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The roots of April Fools' Day date back to before the 15th century, eventually evolving into the modern-day trickster's holiday for pranking a friend, family member, co-worker − or your customers.
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USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024
One of the earliest records of people watching a specific solar eclipse may be the one recorded on a clay tablet in the Syrian port city of Ugarit, believed to contain a reference to the eclipse of March 5, 1223 B.C.E. Eclipse records from China may date back almost as far, Schaefer says.
—Dan Falk, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Mar. 2024
The early concepts for the Osprey date back to the 1980s, when the Iran hostage crisis exposed a need to have an airframe that could move fast and hover or land like a helicopter, Bauernfeind said.
—CBS News, 8 Mar. 2024
According to the London School of Economics, tax breaks for non-doms date back to 1799 when the government wanted to protect the aristocracy from paying tax on their properties in British colonies.
—Anna Cooban, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024
Peterson’s ties to Schnall date back to their days together in Atlanta when Schnall was a partial owner with the Hawks prior to buying a majority stake of the Hornets in August, and Peterson was Atlanta’s assistant general manager.
—Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 6 Mar. 2024
The group’s repertoire consists mostly of songs that date back 200 to 400 years and which invoke the names of living peoples’ actual relatives and ancestors.
—Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2024
Japan, South Korea and the Philippines are all treaty allies with the United States in partnerships that date back decades and have been crucial to Washington’s military influence in the Pacific since the end of the Second World War.
—Simone McCarthy, CNN, 12 Feb. 2024
The town’s historic main drag is lined with businesses, some of which date back to 1917 and include Main Street Theatre, founded in the 1930s.
—Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 12 Feb. 2024
USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024
One of the earliest records of people watching a specific solar eclipse may be the one recorded on a clay tablet in the Syrian port city of Ugarit, believed to contain a reference to the eclipse of March 5, 1223 B.C.E. Eclipse records from China may date back almost as far, Schaefer says.
—Dan Falk, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Mar. 2024
The early concepts for the Osprey date back to the 1980s, when the Iran hostage crisis exposed a need to have an airframe that could move fast and hover or land like a helicopter, Bauernfeind said.
—CBS News, 8 Mar. 2024
According to the London School of Economics, tax breaks for non-doms date back to 1799 when the government wanted to protect the aristocracy from paying tax on their properties in British colonies.
—Anna Cooban, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024
Peterson’s ties to Schnall date back to their days together in Atlanta when Schnall was a partial owner with the Hawks prior to buying a majority stake of the Hornets in August, and Peterson was Atlanta’s assistant general manager.
—Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 6 Mar. 2024
The group’s repertoire consists mostly of songs that date back 200 to 400 years and which invoke the names of living peoples’ actual relatives and ancestors.
—Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2024
Japan, South Korea and the Philippines are all treaty allies with the United States in partnerships that date back decades and have been crucial to Washington’s military influence in the Pacific since the end of the Second World War.
—Simone McCarthy, CNN, 12 Feb. 2024
The town’s historic main drag is lined with businesses, some of which date back to 1917 and include Main Street Theatre, founded in the 1930s.
—Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 12 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'date back.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Date back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/date%20back. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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