Word.ws English Dictionary

back down

back down verb: to take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have.

Verb

back down (third-person singular simple present backs down, present participle backing down, simple past and past participle backed down)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have.
    • I was about to sue them, but I had to back down.
    • The boys had planned to fight during recess, but backed down after the principal found out.
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To make (someone) take a less aggressive position.
    • I have backed down so many men by confronting them. I'm willing to fight back. If you have that rage in your heart and you are willing to kill, that radiates.1980 February 9, Chris Guilfoy, anonymous quotee, “Town Meeting Talks About The Issue of Violence”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 28, page 1
  3. (idiomatic) To withdraw from a commitment or position; back out.

back down meaning in Malayalam

back down in Malayalam

concede defeat, give in, surrender
പരാജയം സമ്മതിക്കുക, തോൽവി അംഗീകരിക്കുക, തോൽവി സമ്മതിക്കുക, കീഴ്പ്പെടുക, സുല്ലിട്ടുപോകുക, സുല്ലിടുക

Forms of back down

third-person singular presentbacks down
present participlebacking down
past participlebacked down
pastbacked down

Questions about back down

What does back down mean?
Back down means to take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have.
What is back down in Malayalam?
Back down in Malayalam is പരാജയം സമ്മതിക്കുക, തോൽവി അംഗീകരിക്കുക, തോൽവി സമ്മതിക്കുക. See Back down meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is back down?
Back down is a verb.
What is the past tense of back down?
The past tense of back down is backed down.

Words near back down in the dictionary

  1. back door sliders
  2. back doored
  3. back dooring
  4. back doors
  5. back double biceps
  6. back down
  7. back draft
  8. back drafts
  9. back draught
  10. back draughts
  11. back east

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: back down (page history and authors); back down (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-back down.ogg.

Cite this entry: “back down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/back_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.