Word.ws English Dictionary

getting back

getting back is the present participle and gerund of get back.

Meaning of get back

Verb

get back (third-person singular simple present gets back, present participle getting back, simple past got back, past participle (UK) got back or (US) gotten back)

  1. (intransitive) Return to where one came from.
    • When I get back from holiday, I expect the house to be tidy.
  2. (intransitive) Reply (to someone); follow up (with someone).
    • I'll get back to you on that by Wednesday.
  3. (transitive) To retrieve (something); to have (something) returned.
    • I lent her my guitar over the Christmas holidays, and will get it back when the term starts.
  4. (often, transitive) To do something to hurt or harm (someone) who has hurt or harmed one; to take revenge.
    • I'll get you back for this!
  5. (Canada, US, colloquial, transitive) To repay; to return the favor.
    • People are afraid to let you know how much money they have because they don't want to turn into the “Bank of Michelle.” I can understand that. Don't want to get jacked into a “Hey, can I borrow five hundred bucks till next week dude? I'm a little short. I'll get you back though.”2005, James O'Neill, The Gas Can, →ISBN, page 57

Questions about getting back

What is getting back the present participle and gerund of?
Getting back is the present participle and gerund of get back.

Words near getting back in the dictionary

  1. getting around to
  2. getting at
  3. getting away
  4. getting away with
  5. getting away with murder
  6. getting back
  7. getting back at
  8. getting back on the horse that bucked one
  9. getting back to
  10. getting behind
  11. getting bent out of shape

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: getting back (page history and authors); get 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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Cite this entry: “getting back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/getting_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.