take a step back
take a step back verb: to withdraw temporarily from a situation in order to evaluate it; to cease one's course of action and take a moment to reflect on it; to try and gain some perspective.
Verb
take a step back (third-person singular simple present takes a step back, present participle taking a step back, simple past took a step back, past participle taken a step back)
- To withdraw temporarily from a situation in order to evaluate it; to cease one's course of action and take a moment to reflect on it; to try and gain some perspective.
- By establishing GBR, the Department for Transport intends to "take a step back" from the day-to-day running of the railways, which will be music to the ears of many.2025 March 5, Richard Wilcock, “DfT sets out its plans with rail reform consultation”, in RAIL, number 1030, page 28
Forms of take a step back
| third-person singular present | takes a step back |
|---|---|
| present participle | taking a step back |
| past | took a step back |
| past participle | taken a step back |
Questions about take a step back
- What does take a step back mean?
- Take a step back means to withdraw temporarily from a situation in order to evaluate it; to cease one's course of action and take a moment to reflect on it; to try and gain some perspective.
- What part of speech is take a step back?
- Take a step back is a verb.
- What is the past tense of take a step back?
- The past tense of take a step back is took a step back.
Words near take a step back in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: take a step 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:
Cite this entry: “take a step back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/take_a_step_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.