Word.ws English Dictionary

backed off

backed off is the simple past and past participle of back off.

Meaning of back off

Verb

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

  1. (literally) To move backwards away from something.
    • I tried to back off slowly from the tiger in my path.
  2. (idiomatic) To become less aggressive, particularly when one had appeared committed to act.
    • You need to back off, or the situation could turn ugly.
  3. (idiomatic) To lower the setting of.
    • Could you back off the volume a bit? It’s really loud.
    Synonyms:
    dial back, turn down
  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see back, off.
    • The machine may go back off if it gets too hot. [= turn off again, turn back off].

Questions about backed off

What is backed off the simple past and past participle of?
Backed off is the simple past and past participle of back off.

Words near backed off in the dictionary

  1. backed blade
  2. backed blades
  3. backed down
  4. backed in
  5. backed into
  6. backed off
  7. backed on to
  8. backed one out
  9. backed oneself into a corner
  10. backed onto
  11. backed out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backed off (page history and authors); back off (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.

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Cite this entry: “backed off.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backed_off. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.