Word.ws English Dictionary

drawback

UK/ˈdɹɔːˌbæk/US/ˈdɹɔˌbæk/

drawback noun: a disadvantage; something that detracts or takes away.

Noun

drawback (plural drawbacks)

  1. A disadvantage; something that detracts or takes away.
    • Poor fuel economy is a common drawback among larger vehicles.
    • there was no one real drawback to her flutter of excitement and happy anticipation1820, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 121, page 526
    Antonyms:
    benefit, advantage, boon
  2. A partial refund of an import fee, as when goods are re-exported from the country that collected the fee.
    • East-India goods, not specifically and particularly rated, are to be liable to duties and drawbacks on the value, to be taken by the gross price at the company's public sales.1796, David Steel, New and Complete Tables of the Net Duties payable, and drawbacks allowed, on goods, wares, and merchandises..., page 5
  3. The inhalation of a lungful of smoke from a cigarette, viewed as a skill of the practised smoker.
    • ‘I wanta learn to do the drawback better than Swiftie.’1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 123

drawback meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

drawback in Tamil

குறைபாடு, பின் வாங்கு, பின்னடைவு

drawback in Urdu

کمی, خامی, خرابی, نقص

drawback in Bengali

অসুবিধা, কোনো পরিস্থিতির নেতিবাচক দিক, ত্রুটি, কোনো পরিকল্পনা, বস্তুর খামতি

drawback in Malayalam

drawback
പോരായ്മ pōrāyma
More languagesFewer languages
drawback in Kannada
ಕೊರತೆ
drawback in Arabic
عائِق ʕāʔiq

Examples of drawback in a sentence

  • Put emphasis on the advantages rather than the drawbacks.
  • Is there a drawback to being a big man in baseball?
  • The benefits and drawbacks of the twenty-four-hour clock were a topic of debate in early twentieth-century France.

All 32 example sentences with drawback

Synonyms of drawback

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of drawback

Forms of drawback

pluraldrawbacks

Plural of drawback: drawbacks

Origin of drawback

From draw + back. Compare setback.

Questions about drawback

What does drawback mean?
Drawback means a disadvantage; something that detracts or takes away.
What is drawback in Tamil?
Drawback in Tamil is குறைபாடு, பின் வாங்கு, பின்னடைவு. See Drawback meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is drawback?
Drawback is a noun.
How do you pronounce drawback?
Drawback is pronounced /ˈdɹɔːˌbæk/ (UK).
What is the plural of drawback?
The plural of drawback is drawbacks.

Words near drawback in the dictionary

  1. drawabilities
  2. drawability
  3. drawable
  4. drawal
  5. drawals
  6. drawback
  7. drawbacks
  8. drawbar
  9. drawbars
  10. drawbench
  11. drawbenches

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drawback (page history and authors); drawback (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); drawback (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); drawback (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പോരായ്മ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); drawback (Kannada 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Jjamesryan-drawback.wav.

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