back-and-forth

[ bak-uhn-fawrth, -fohrth, -uhnd- ]

adjective

1. backward and forward; side to side; to and fro:

   a back-and-forth shuttling of buses to the stadium; the back-and-forth movement of a clock's pendulum.

noun

1. unresolved argument or discussion.

Word History and Origins

Origin of back-and-forth¹

First recorded in 1605–15

Idioms and Phrases

Also, backward(s) and forward(s) . To and fro, moving in one direction and then the opposite and so making no progress in either. For example, The clock pendulum swung back and forth . The term is also used figuratively, as in The lawyers argued the point backwards and forwards for an entire week . [c. 1600]

Example Sentences

We got in touch with his publicist and went back and forth for like six or seven months.

From Los Angeles Times

Arguments between officials at the Dangote refinery, the oil marketers and the regulators are batted back and forth in the media.

From BBC

Nicole, who lives in a Southern Trust area, was diagnosed in January last year, after months of trips back and forth to doctors to find out why she was so breathless.

From BBC

I go back and forth between despairing and defiant.

From Salon

There is a lot of back and forth about the polygamous history of Mormonism and, increasingly, the perils of believing in one religion over another when they share similar mythologies.

From Los Angeles Times