Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use backup in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, adjective

Backup means a reserve or substitute. Example: “If the goalkeeper is injured, we have a backup.”

Examples of backup by meaning

nounA reserve or substitute.

  • If the goalkeeper is injured, we have a backup.

nounA copy of a file or record, stored separately from the original, that can be used to recover the original if it is...

  • After the power failure, we had to restore the database from backup.

nounAn accumulation of material caused by a (partial) obstruction or (complete) blockage of the flow or movement of the...

  • The accident caused a mile-long backup on the highway.
  • The blockage caused a backup in the plumbing.

nounReinforcements.

  • He's got a gun! You'd better send for backup.

nounAny support or extra help.

  • He scans the area, hoping for backup.2025, Man Attacked by Vicious Pit Bull After Gate Left Open!

adjectiveStandby, reserve or extra.

  • I am only a backup player.

adjectiveThat is intended as a backup.

  • Make a backup copy of that file.

More sentences with backup

  • This computer file is incorrect. Can we pull the old version from your backups?From the entry pull
  • For new players, I recommend maining the dagger and using the axe as a backup weapon.From the entry main
  • I saved disk space by taking differential backups, which only stored the data that had changed.From the entry differential
  • Our nightly computer backups include the archival of old e-mail messages.From the entry archival
  • According to the terms and conditions, we're allowed to make a single copy of the software for backup purposes.From the entry terms and conditions
  • If you had set up automatic backups, you would have been able to recover your files, but as it is, you're out of luck.From the entry out of luck
  • You'd best save a backup copy, just in case the morons lose the one that you sent and then try to act like you never sent one.From the entry best
  • You're best off saving a backup copy in case the morons lose the one that you sent and then try to act like you never sent one.From the entry best off
  • We perform a full backup on Sunday, including the file foo.dat.2025, Richard Fox, Information Technology: An Introduction for Today's Digital World, page 437. From the entry incremental
  • On Wednesday, having modified foo.dat, it is stored on an incremental backup.2025, Richard Fox, Information Technology: An Introduction for Today's Digital World, page 437. From the entry incremental
  • There, in all his unkempt glory, stood Bruce Arians, the Gobblers’ backup quarterback for years.2021 February 5, Andy Bitter, “Bruce Arians’ Virginia Tech beginnings: Big hair, bartending and the wishbone”, in The Athletic, New York…. From the entry disheveledness
  • Backup Camera: This camera allows the driver to see what is behind them on a dashboard screen.2017 January, Jack Gillis, Amy Curran, Richard Eckman, The Car Book 2017, Gillis Publishing Group, page 80. From the entry backup camera
  • Someone stole our bloodhounds, but we got the backup bloodhounds to chase the first tier of bloodhounds.2007, Xavier: Renegade Angel, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Police Officer. From the entry bloodhound
  • A backup method for the spin recovery parachute system is jettisonable ballast.2003, Ralph D. Kimberlin, chapter 34, in Flight Testing of Fixed-Wing Aircraft, →ISBN, page 406. From the entry jettisonable
  • Soon I will zero (expletive deleted) your desks and your backups on System A.1984, Richard Sedric Fox Eells, Peter Raymond Nehemkis, Corporate Intelligence and Espionage: A Blueprint for Executive Decision Making…. From the entry cracker
  • Scott Carpenter, backup astronaut for the mission, famously said: "Godspeed, John Glenn."1962 February 20, Scott Carpenter, quotee, “Godspeed, John Glenn”, in USA Today, McLean, Va.: Gannett Co., published 8 December 2016…. From the entry godspeed
  • But simply turning off iCloud backups was an incomplete solution.2022 November 2, Brian X. Chen, “Personal Tech Has Changed. So Must Our Coverage of It.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the…. From the entry macro
  • Tesla has repurposed the lightweight, energy-dense cells that power its cars for huge grid-scale batteries that provide essential backup for renewables.December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine, archived from…. From the entry repurpose
  • On your car, features like a backup camera and antitheft device may qualify you for a better auto insurance rate.2021 May, Real Simple, Meredith Corporation, page 74. From the entry backup camera
  • Here's how to painlessly make pantsing your backup.2017, The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, Penguin, →ISBN. From the entry pantsing
  • Meanwhile, it works as the short-range backup protection when this line primary protection misstrips, and as overload protection.2017, Lijun Qin, Congge Li, Lei Hao, Huating Jiang, Zhuofan Tang, Xian Wang, “Research on the Influence of the Series Compensator on Relay…. From the entry misstrip
  • If not real-time, in-person backup, he at least needed to tell Davenport what was going on, and where he was headed.2014, John Sandford, Deadline: A Virgil Flowers Novel, Penguin, →ISBN, page 167. From the entry real-time
  • A momentary power spike had caused a blip, forcing the backup system to shunt Carella's current work into a safety file.2010, Don Pendleton, Mike Linaker, “Prologue”, in System Corruption (Don Pendleton’s The Executioner), Toronto, Ont.: Gold Eagle, →ISBN. From the entry shunt
  • Homemade gnocchi were ultratender wonders of their kind, and the asparagus, peas and sage that accompanied them provided textural backup.2009 June 21, M. H. Reed, “Good Food, and Hopes for Service to Match”, in New York Times. From the entry ultratender
  • The anchor in this case serves as little more than a backup (albeit a critical one) to the stance.2004, Mark Houston, Kathy Cosley, “Snow and Ice”, in Alpine Climbing: Techniques to Take You Higher, Seattle, Wash.: The Mountaineers…. From the entry stance
  • I've looked around if I can get the prog to start a backup itself, but it still requires some manual commands.2003, Leo Edwards, “Automating the Windows backup prog to commence backups?”, in microsoft.public.win98.apps (Usenet). From the entry prog
  • Whenever he met Indians in Kenya, he challenged them, demanding to know their backup plans in case of trouble.2000, Paul Theroux, Sir Vidia's shadow: a friendship across five continents, page 61. From the entry crunch time
  • The face washer is tapered to provide a uniform flow surface between the backup washer and the face washer.1980, Canadian Committee on Forest Fire Control, Reports Tabled at Annual Meeting, page 30. From the entry face washer
  • Lundy was the primary backup to both Tector and the starting power forward, a bruising human expressway girder in serial-killer glasses, Bellini.2016, Josh Wilker, “Yips”, in Benchwarmer: A Sports-Obsessed Memoir of Fatherhood, New York, N.Y.: PublicAffairs, →ISBN, page 291. From the entry serial-killer glasses
  • But when the toughie is armed or there are too many toughies, l have to call for a backup before I make a move.2012, Jules Lombard, Sons, Daughters and Wine Tasters, page 11. From the entry toughie
  • Despaired of losing all the data accumulated since the last CD backup, but then remembered an old Knoppix CD in the drawer.2006 April 26, BrianM, “Knoppix is Kneat”, in nz.comp (Usenet). From the entry unfsckable
  • It is also important to identify a backup contact and also to preinform the contacts of who is responsible to contact them from your firm.2005, David Edward Marcinko, Insurance and Risk Management Strategies for Physicians and Advisors, page 164. From the entry preinform

Meaning of backup

  1. noun A reserve or substitute.
  2. noun A copy of a file or record, stored separately from the original, that can be used to recover the original if it is damaged or destroyed.
  3. noun An accumulation of material caused by a (partial) obstruction or (complete) blockage of the flow or movement of the material, or an accumulation of material that causes an overflow due to the flow being greater than the maximum possible flow.

Full definition of backup

Questions about backup in a sentence

How do you use backup in a sentence?
Backup is used as a noun and adjective. For example: “If the goalkeeper is injured, we have a backup.”
What is a short sentence with backup?
“I am only a backup player.”
What does backup mean?
Backup means a reserve or substitute.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backup (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use backup in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/backup. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.