backpedal

/ˈbækˌpɛdəɫ/

backpedal verb: to pedal backwards on a bicycle.

Verb

backpedal (third-person singular simple present backpedals, present participle (US) backpedaling or (UK) backpedalling, simple past and past participle (US) backpedaled or (UK) backpedalled)

(intransitive) To pedal backwards on a bicycle.
- The road was on a hill and the boy was going down the slope, and as he flashed by he started backpedalling very quickly so that the free-wheeling mechanism of his bike made a loud whirring sound.1984, Roald Dahl, Boy
(intransitive) To step backwards.
- The player had to backpedal before catching the ball.
(idiomatic, intransitive) To distance oneself from an earlier claim or statement; back off from an idea.
- Though initially adopting a hard-line stance, the politician soon started to backpedal.
- The best car sound of 1999 is that of a new Rover 75 being furiously backpedalled through the motoring page of the Sunday Times.1999 February 15, Simon Hacker, “Rover 75”, in The Guardian
Synonyms:

climb down, walk back, backtrack

backpedal (plural backpedals)

An act of backpedalling (in any sense).
- He should come out of his backpedal and turn to run only when a receiver threatens to get behind him in the zone.2013, Greg Colby, Football: Steps to Success, page 120
- They were doing 50 yards of lunges, 50 yards of backpedals, sprinting for 50 yards and power walking one mile around the track to help him reach his target heart rate.2014 August 4, Talia Day, “No more ‘Big Ben’: City leader loses 145 pounds”, in CNN

পিছিয়ে যাওয়া, মত পরিবর্তন

President Donald Trump backpedaled on his threat to shut down the southern border, saying Thursday that now he doesn’t think the US will “ever have to close the border.”2019 April 4, Maegan Vazquez, “Trump backpedals: ‘I don’t think we’ll ever have to close the border’”, in CNN:
Adidas is backpedaling fast over its latest attempt to protect its iconic three-stripe mark.2023 March 29, Anna Cooban, “Adidas does rapid U-turn in Black Lives Matter logo dispute”, in CNN:

Verb
third-person singular present	backpedals
present participle US	backpedaling
present participle UK	backpedalling
past participle US	backpedaled
past US	backpedaled
past participle UK	backpedalled
past UK	backpedalled
alternative form	back-pedal
alternative form	backpeddle
Noun
plural	backpedals

From back + pedal.

What does backpedal mean?: Backpedal means to pedal backwards on a bicycle.
What is backpedal in Bengali?: Backpedal in Bengali is পিছিয়ে যাওয়া, মত পরিবর্তন. See Backpedal meaning in Bengali.
How do you use backpedal in a sentence?: President Donald Trump backpedaled on his threat to shut down the southern border, saying Thursday that now he doesn’t think the US will “ever have to close the border.”
What part of speech is backpedal?: Backpedal can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce backpedal?: Backpedal is pronounced /ˈbækˌpɛdəɫ/.
What is the past tense of backpedal?: The past tense of backpedal is backpedaled.

Adapted from Wiktionary: backpedal (page history and authors); backpedal (Bengali Wiktionary) (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: 2026-09-02

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

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