Word.ws English Dictionary

rolling back

rolling back is the present participle and gerund of roll back.

Meaning of roll back

Verb

roll back (third-person singular simple present rolls back, present participle rolling back, simple past and past participle rolled back)

  1. (transitive) To return to a prior state.
    • We had to roll back the changes to the database because of an unforeseen error.
  2. (transitive) To postpone.
    • NASA will roll back the shuttle launch due to bad weather.
  3. (intransitive) To reduce thrust without having been commanded to do so.
    • In the previous tests, it was suspected that the volume of fuel contained in pipework had effects, both in the time taken for the restriction to affect engine performance and the nature of the fuel flow fluctuations after the engine had rolled back. Therefore, it was decided that the restriction...2010 February 9, Air Accidents Investigation Branch, “1.16.4.2 Full-scale engine testing (L12)”, in Report on the accident to Boeing 777-236ER, G-YMMM, at London Heathrow Airport on 17 January 2008...
  4. (intransitive) To retreat.

Questions about rolling back

What is rolling back the present participle and gerund of?
Rolling back is the present participle and gerund of roll back.

Words near rolling back in the dictionary

  1. rolling
  2. rolling about
  3. rolling around
  4. rolling average
  5. rolling away
  6. rolling back
  7. rolling back the years
  8. rolling backup
  9. rolling backups
  10. rolling blackout
  11. rolling blackouts

Source and license

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