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BACK DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

Dictionary entry overview: What does back down mean?

• BACK DOWN (verb)
The verb BACK DOWN has 2 senses:

1. move backwards from a certain position
2. remove oneself from an obligation

Familiarity information: BACK DOWN used as a verb is rare.

Dictionary entry details

• BACK DOWN (verb)

Sense 1

back down ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Move backwards from a certain position

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

back down; back off; back up

Context example:

The bully had to back down

Hypernyms (to "back down" is one way to...):

draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw (pull back or move away or backward)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 2

back down ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Remove oneself from an obligation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bow out; chicken out; back down; back off; pull out

Context example:

He bowed out when he heard how much work was involved

Hypernyms (to "back down" is one way to...):

retire; withdraw (lose interest)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "back down"):

resile (pull out from an agreement, contract, statement, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

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BACK DOWN: related words searches

» move back meaning
» What does pull back mean?
» retire: pronunciation in phonetic transcription
» retire definition
» Meaning of withdraw

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