get off someone's back
get off someone's back verb: to cease pestering or criticizing someone; to leave someone alone.
Verb
get off someone's back (third-person singular simple present gets off someone's back, present participle getting off someone's back, simple past got off someone's back, past participle (UK) got off someone's back or (US) gotten off someone's back)
- To cease pestering or criticizing someone; to leave someone alone.
- Nothing gets an overly inquisitive auntie or an uncle with unpalatable political views off your back like a Boxing Day fixture.2016, Daniel Gray, Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Modern Football
- Synonyms:
- get off someone's case
Synonyms of get off someone's back
Forms of get off someone's back
| third-person singular present | gets off someone's back |
|---|---|
| present participle | getting off someone's back |
| past | got off someone's back |
| past participle UK | got off someone's back |
| past participle US | gotten off someone's back |
Questions about get off someone's back
- What does get off someone's back mean?
- Get off someone's back means to cease pestering or criticizing someone; to leave someone alone.
- What part of speech is get off someone's back?
- Get off someone's back is a verb.
- What is the past tense of get off someone's back?
- The past tense of get off someone's back is got off someone's back.
Words near get off someone's back in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: get off someone's 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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