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View synonyms for hang back

hang back

verb

  1. intr, adverboften foll byfrom to be reluctant to go forward or carry on (with some activity)
“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


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Idioms and Phrases

Be reluctant to move ahead, hold back. For example, They hung back at the entrance, fearful that they wouldn't be admitted , or We hung back to let our parents go in first . [Second half of 1500s]

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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.

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hang aroundhang behind