Word.ws English Dictionary

took back

took back is the simple past of take back.

Meaning of take back

Verb

take back (third-person singular simple present takes back, present participle taking back, simple past took back, past participle taken back)

  1. (transitive) To retract or withdraw (an earlier statement).
    • No, you are not fat; I take it all back.
  2. (transitive) To cause (someone) to remember some past event or time.
    • That tune takes me back to my childhood.
  3. (transitive) To resume a relationship with (someone).
    • She has forgiven him, and taken him back.
  4. (transitive) Physically so.
    • The wedding is off, and he has taken back the ring.
    Synonyms:
    reclaim
  5. (transitive) Culturally so.
    • The Queer community took back the word from their disparagers.
  6. (transitive) To return (something) to a vendor for a refund.
    • Take back faulty goods to the shop where you bought them.

Questions about took back

What is took back the simple past of?
Took back is the simple past of take back.

Words near took back in the dictionary

  1. took at advantage
  2. took at face value
  3. took attendance
  4. took away
  5. took away from
  6. took back
  7. took bread and salt
  8. took breath
  9. took by storm
  10. took by surprise
  11. took care

Source and license

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