Word.ws English Dictionary

knock-back

knock-back is the alternative form of knockback.

Meaning of knockback

Noun

knockback (plural knockbacks)

  1. A blow that causes the recipient to fall or move backwards, a knock back; a recoil.
    • He lifted his hand in a knockback spell, which would send me sailing right into the zombie.2006, Kelley Armstrong, Broken, unnumbered page
  2. Something that impedes or reverses progress; a setback.
    • […]the chemo had not worked and had gone back into his brain.[…]He had knockback after knockback. It would have taken its toll on anyone.2011, Lee Hobin, God, Why Are You Being So Cruel?, page 188
  3. (Australia, UK, informal) A rejection; a refusal.
    • He got a few knockbacks today when he tried to give his resume out at the local shops.

Forms of knock-back

pluralknock-backs

Questions about knock-back

What is knock-back the alternative form of?
Knock-back is the alternative form of knockback.

Words near knock-back in the dictionary

  1. knock-'em-downs
  2. knock-about
  3. knock-and-announce
  4. knock-and-talk
  5. knock-and-talks
  6. knock-back
  7. knock-backs
  8. knock-down-and-drag-out
  9. knock-down-and-drag-outs
  10. knock-down-drag-out
  11. knock-down-drag-outs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knock-back (page history and authors); knockback (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: “knock-back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/knock-back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.