BACK DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does back down mean? 

• BACK DOWN (verb)
  The verb BACK DOWN has 2 senses:

1. move backwards from a certain position

2. remove oneself from an obligation

  Familiarity information: BACK DOWN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BACK DOWN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move backwards from a certain position

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

back down; back off; back up

Context example:

The bully had to back down

Hypernyms (to "back down" is one way to...):

draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw (pull back or move away or backward)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

backdown (a retraction of a previously held position)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Remove oneself from an obligation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

back down; back off; bow out; chicken out; pull out

Context example:

He bowed out when he heard how much work was involved

Hypernyms (to "back down" is one way to...):

retire; withdraw (lose interest)

Verb group:

get out; pull out (move out or away)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "back down"):

resile (pull out from an agreement, contract, statement, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

The plumes are estimated to rise about 125 miles (200 kilometers) before, presumably, raining material back down onto Europa's surface.

(Possible Water Plumes on Jupiter's Moon Europa, NASA)

Once the shape memory polymers cooled back down, they remained locked in that position.

(Tiny magnetic particles enable new material to bend, twist and grab, National Science Foundation)

Slowly they gave back down the hill, the archers still hanging upon their skirts, with a long litter of writhing and twisted figures to mark the course which they had taken.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This temporary increase in methane — sharply up and then back down — tells us there must be some relatively localized source, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock.

(Curiosity Detects Methane Spike on Mars, NASA)

This enzyme allows protons to flow back down their concentration gradient across the membrane, and in the process uses the energy of the gradient to drive ATP synthesis.

(Electron Transport Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

It is an autonomic nervous system disorder and the symptoms are relieved once the person sits back down.

(Orthostatic Intolerance, NCI Thesaurus)

There, the air mass sinks back down, cooling as it descends, which allows the stratospheric methane clouds to form.

(NASA Finds Methane Ice Cloud in Titan's Stratosphere, NASA)

With no hope of escaping the galaxy’s gravitational clutches, the plasma cools off, slows down, and eventually rains back down on the black hole, where the cycle begins anew.

(ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain, ESO)

Looking back down the pool-strewn road, he saw the two excited philosophers waving their hands and shouting at each other, but their babble soon became a mere drone in the distance, and a turn in the road hid them from his sight.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Like rain and snow clouds on Earth, those clouds form through a cycle of evaporation and condensation, with vapor rising from the surface, encountering cooler and cooler temperatures and falling back down as precipitation.

(NASA Finds Methane Ice Cloud in Titan's Stratosphere, NASA)