TAKING BACK Synonyms: 65 Similar and Opposite Words

taking back

verb

present participle of take back

as in withdrawing

to solemnly or formally reject or go back on (as something formerly adhered to) I take back what I said about her: she's not the fool I thought she was

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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 taking back Moving on from Potter and Jones without taking back any money helped the Pacers clear nearly $5 million from their cap sheet. — Tony East, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026 A week after setting an all-time high in Nielsen’s streaming ratings, Love Island USA nearly matched it while taking back the top overall ranking for the third time this summer. — Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 30 July 2026 Also not on the spring 2027 calendar is Giambattista Valli, who is taking back control of his house following an agreement to buy back full ownership from Artémis, the private investment arm of the billionaire Pinault family. — Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 24 July 2026 Democrats have said Kean's 7th congressional district is a top target to flip in their pursuit of taking back the majority. — Claudia Grisales, NPR, 30 June 2026 Trading him might be another option, though the market is likely to be thin and require taking back salary. — John Hollinger, New York Times, 23 June 2026 Getting a grip on immigration was a key promise of the Brexiters — their message of taking back control resonated. — ABC News, 21 June 2026 Adding scientists to the corps in the late 1960s, and deliberately recruiting women and Black astronauts in the 1970s, were widely hailed as steps the agency was taking back then towards diversity. — Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 10 June 2026 Democrats can win again by taking back the middle. — NBC news, 31 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for taking back

Verb

Major Medicare Advantage insurer Humana is withdrawing from certain markets for 2027, a move expected to be mirrored by other companies facing rising medical expenses.

— Bruce Japsen, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026
In 1982, invading Israeli forces occupied the city, withdrawing three years later.

— Jane Arraf, NPR, 1 Aug. 2026

Definition of withdrawing

Verb

The remote control has mixed reviews, with this seemingly retracting from its otherwise glowing reviews.

— Tantse Walter, Space.com, 26 June 2026
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a recall notice that the seat belts in certain Expedition and Lincoln vehicles may inadvertently lock, preventing the belt from retracting or extending.

— Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 3 June 2026

Definition of retracting

Verb

Mark Ford Rosemary Tonks emulated French Symbolist poets before converting to Christianity and renouncing all her own works.

— The New York Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, 4 July 2026
Corbett, of Palatine, announced his independent candidacy days after renouncing the current state of the Republican Party and dropping his consulting business work with GOP contenders.

— Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune, 3 June 2026

Definition of renouncing

Verb

The options to address sales tax exemptions for data centers could include limiting the sales tax exemption or repealing them, Huffman said.

— Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 July 2026
Instead of lobbying for the law, Congress should be thinking about reforming, if not repealing, it.

— James Surowiecki, The Atlantic, 21 July 2026

Definition of repealing

Verb

In the early 1930s, the Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty wrote stories denying the famine that Joseph Stalin’s forced-collectivization policies were causing in Ukraine and mocked journalists who reported the truth.

— James Kirchick, The Atlantic, 29 July 2026
Human rights groups have accused Iranian authorities of denying defendants due process, relying on coerced confessions and carrying out executions after unfair trials.

— Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 29 July 2026

Definition of denying

Verb

Republicans on the committee accused Fauci of privately contradicting his public advocacy in his diary entries, while Democrats said he was being scapegoated in a partisan inquiry relitigating events that happened years ago.

— Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, 30 July 2026
Global coal consumption reached another record in 2025, seemingly contradicting years of discussion about phasing out the world’s most carbon-intensive fossil fuel.

— Robert Rapier, Forbes.com, 26 July 2026