Word.ws English Dictionary

biting back

biting back is the present participle and gerund of bite back.

Meaning of bite back

Verb

bite back (third-person singular simple present bites back, present participle biting back, simple past bit back, past participle bitten back)

  1. (intransitive) To retaliate; to give a sharp retort.
  2. (transitive) To repress (an emotion or a response).
    • He bit back his anger and managed a courteous reply.

Questions about biting back

What is biting back the present participle and gerund of?
Biting back is the present participle and gerund of bite back.

Words near biting back in the dictionary

  1. bithyniids
  2. Bitica
  3. bitier
  4. bitiest
  5. biting
  6. biting back
  7. biting down
  8. biting in
  9. biting in the arse
  10. biting in the ass
  11. biting it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: biting back (page history and authors); bite back (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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