backpedalling

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)

1. (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
2. (intransitive) To step backwards.
   • The player had to backpedal before catching the ball.
3. (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.

   Synonyms:

   climb down, walk back, backtrack

See all 4 meanings of backpedal

Noun

backpedaling (countable and uncountable, plural backpedalings)

1. The act of distancing oneself from a previously supported idea, action, behaviour, etc.; a U-turn or flip-flop.
   • Despite the swift backpedalling of the university, the original notice given to stall operators is suggestive of the potential existence of ‘a growing English-speaking elite’ that is ‘happy to maintain the importance of the English language’.2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 3