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Showing results for back off. Search instead for bunk+off.
Synonyms

back off

British  

verb

  1. (intr) to retreat

  2. (tr) to abandon (an intention, objective, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
back off Idioms  

  1. See back down , def. 2.

  2. Relent, abandon one's stand. For example, The chairman wanted to sell one division but later backed off . [Mid-1900s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

European officials huddled on a call and largely convinced themselves that Trump would back off.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

"You just need to back off the throttle or turn down the battery and you charge the thing. So no more challenge in the high speed."

From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026

Stubborn inflation could force the Fed to back off rates cut this year.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 18, 2026

Diego Gomez drilled in the opening goal for the visitors after Ferdi Kadioglu's stunning strike came back off the bar.

From Barron's • Feb. 21, 2026

We felt it would be best for Minnijean to back off, but none of us could talk her out of it.

From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.