Word.ws English Dictionary

have someone's back

/hæv ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈbæk/

have someone's back verb: to be prepared and willing to support or defend someone.

Verb

have someone's back (third-person singular simple present has someone's back, present participle having someone's back, simple past and past participle had someone's back)

  1. (idiomatic) To be prepared and willing to support or defend someone.
    • If you ever need help, just ask. You know I have your back.
    • Liz Truss has promised Britons she has “got your back” and set out a plan for “growth, growth and growth” in a conference speech disrupted by protesters asking who voted for her plan.2022 October 5, Rowena Mason, quoting Liz Truss, “Liz Truss promises ‘growth, growth and growth’ in protest-hit speech”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 02 Apr 2023

Synonyms of have someone's back

Forms of have someone's back

third-person singular presenthas someone's back
present participlehaving someone's back
past participlehad someone's back
pasthad someone's back
alternative formcover someone's back
alternative formhave got someone's back
alternative formget someone's back

Questions about have someone's back

What does have someone's back mean?
Have someone's back means to be prepared and willing to support or defend someone.
What part of speech is have someone's back?
Have someone's back is a verb.
How do you pronounce have someone's back?
Have someone's back is pronounced /hæv ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈbæk/.
What is the past tense of have someone's back?
The past tense of have someone's back is had someone's back.

Words near have someone's back in the dictionary

  1. have someone by the short hairs
  2. have someone going
  3. have someone on toast
  4. have someone there
  5. have someone to rights
  6. have someone's back
  7. have someone's blood
  8. have someone's blood on one's head
  9. have someone's ear
  10. have someone's guts for garters
  11. have someone's head

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-have someone's back.ogg.

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