Word.ws English Dictionary

back into

back into verb: to advance to the post-season as a result of another team's loss, especially where one's own team has also lost.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To advance to the post-season as a result of another team's loss, especially where one's own team has also lost.
    • The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals backed into the playoffs.
  2. (idiomatic) To be forced into a situation by circumstances.
    • I didn't have any other options, I was backed into it.
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see back, into.
    • I like to back into parking spots.

Forms of back into

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

Questions about back into

What does back into mean?
Back into means to advance to the post-season as a result of another team's loss, especially where one's own team has also lost.
What part of speech is back into?
Back into is a verb.
What is the past tense of back into?
The past tense of back into is backed into.

Words near back into in the dictionary

  1. back in the days
  2. back in the game
  3. back in the groove
  4. back in the knife drawer, Miss Sharp
  5. back in the saddle
  6. back into
  7. back issue
  8. back issues
  9. back judge
  10. back kitchen
  11. back kitchens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: back into (page history and authors). 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 into.ogg.

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