as in to back down
to break a promise or agreement
you'd better not back off on your promise to do all the planning for the big dance
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Recent Examples of back off
With the memo released Friday, Levine Cava backed off several more austerity measures.
—
Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
For that to work, plant cells actually oxidize a carbon back off, releasing carbon dioxide, in order to create a two-carbon source for building lipids.
—ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
And yet governments and corporations are now backing off on previous climate goals, and the planet's annual greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb.
—Alec Luhn, Scientific American, 11 Sep. 2025
The rest of the go-tos before Nick Pivetta joined the stable this year — Yu Darvish, Michael King and Joe Musgrove — have cycled off and on and sometimes back off the active roster so much that the workload of an up-and-down arm is second only to Cease’s over the last two years.
—Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back off
Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
For that to work, plant cells actually oxidize a carbon back off, releasing carbon dioxide, in order to create a two-carbon source for building lipids.
—ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
And yet governments and corporations are now backing off on previous climate goals, and the planet's annual greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb.
—Alec Luhn, Scientific American, 11 Sep. 2025
The rest of the go-tos before Nick Pivetta joined the stable this year — Yu Darvish, Michael King and Joe Musgrove — have cycled off and on and sometimes back off the active roster so much that the workload of an up-and-down arm is second only to Cease’s over the last two years.
—Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back off
Verb
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Meanwhile, Samsung isn't backing down.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
12 Sep. 2025
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Still, manager Aaron Boone isn't backing down.—
Julio Cesar Valdera Morales,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Or maybe sign Cameron Latu off the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad (Barrows slowly backs out of the room).—
Matt Barrows,
New York Times,
10 Sep. 2025
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The industry chews people up and spits them (and their dreams) right back out.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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On Thursday, there were 652 officers on the force, with nearly 100 cops out on some kind of administrative or medical leave.—
Shomik Mukherjee,
Mercury News,
8 Aug. 2025
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But with that brief wave of hope came new footage on Twitter every night of the NYPD acting like bad cops out of a Harvey Keitel flick: cops harassing peaceful crowds, cops kettling activists, cops literally driving a car into a crowd of protestors.—
Maris Kreizman,
Rolling Stone,
24 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Back off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back%20off. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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