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back - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The part of the trunk of the human body along and to the sides of the spine between the neck and the pelvis; the dorsum.
- noun The analogous dorsal region in other animals.
- noun The backbone or spine.
- noun The part or area farthest from the front.
- noun The part opposite to or behind that adapted for view or use.
- noun The reverse side, as of a coin.
- noun A part that supports or strengthens from the rear.
- noun The part of a book where the pages are stitched or glued together into the binding.
- noun The binding itself.
- noun A player who takes a position behind the front line of other players in certain games, such as football and soccer.
- noun In swimming, backstroke.
- intransitive verb To cause to move backward or in a reverse direction.
- intransitive verb To furnish or strengthen with a back or backing.
- intransitive verb To provide with financial or moral support.
- intransitive verb To be in favor of; endorse or advocate: synonym: support.
- intransitive verb To provide with musical accompaniment. Often used with up.
- intransitive verb To bet or wager on.
- intransitive verb To adduce evidence in support of; substantiate.
- intransitive verb To form the back or background of.
- intransitive verb To move backward.
- intransitive verb To shift to a counterclockwise direction. Used of the wind.
- adjective Located or placed in the rear.
- adjective Distant from a center of activity; remote.
- adjective Of a past date; not current.
- adjective Being owed or due from an earlier time; in arrears.
- adjective Being in a backward direction.
- adjective Linguistics Pronounced with the back of the tongue, as oo in cool. Used of vowels.
- adverb At, to, or toward the rear or back.
- adverb In, to, or toward a former location.
- adverb In, to, or toward a former condition.
- adverb In, to, or toward a past time.
- adverb In reserve or concealment.
- adverb In check or under restraint.
- adverb In reply or return.
- idiom Nautical (back and fill) To maneuver a vessel in a narrow channel by adjusting the sails so as to let the wind in and out of them in alteration.
- idiom (back and fill) To vacillate in one's actions or decisions.
- idiom (back to back) Consecutively and without interruption.
- idiom (behind (one's) back) In one's absence or without one's knowledge.
- idiom (have got (someone's) back) To be prepared or ready to support or vouch for someone, as in a crisis.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English bak, from Old English bæc.]
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Dutch bak, from French bac, from Old French, boat, from Vulgar Latin *baccus, vessel, probably of Celtic origin.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Middle English bak, from Old English bæc, from Proto-Germanic *bakan (cf. Old Saxon bak (Middle Low German bak ("back")), West Frisian bekling 'chair back', Old High German bah, Swedish bak), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰogo 'bending'. The adverb represents an aphetic form of aback.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word back.
Examples
-
'We will take New Orleans back' yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = '\'We will take New Orleans back\' '; yahooBuzzArticleSummary =' Article: Two years after Katrina tore through the mouth of the Mississippi, a New Orleans parent, after running an obstacle course that can take many months, is only sometimes able to place his or her child in a school. '
-
The warm atmosphere radiates some of its energy back down to earth – this latter is sometimes termed “back radiation”.
-
The warm atmosphere radiates some of its energy back down to earth – this latter is sometimes termed “back radiation”.
-
It took all of me to hold back the tears when my dad told me to find him and bring him backÂ…
goldylockz22 Diary Entry goldylockz22 2003
-
My back folds in to ridges, where the water running down my backÂ… carefully bounces and folds into the crevices, reaching an invisible body of flow, up and over the highlights of my skinÂ… created from years of play in the sunÂ…
ugotsoul Diary Entry ugotsoul 2003
-
Nina needs help to roll from her belly to her back, so they put a circle that goes part way around ‘rolls belly to back’.
-
If we have gone out of the way Jesus will bring us back, _if we want to come back_.
The Life of Duty, v. 2 A year's plain sermons on the Gospels or Epistles H. J. Wilmot-Buxton
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Nevertheless it was their turning back, or being _sent back_, as it was called, that gave a pretext to the slander that was then started.
With Rimington L. March Phillipps
-
I have only recently been getting back a little: no, getting _back_ nothing, -- but some new life, out of a new world, I think.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 77, March, 1864 Various
-
In the next issue he combined some of his smaller departments in the back; and thus, in 1896, he inaugurated the method of “running over into the back” which has now become a recognized principle in the make-up of magazines of larger size.
Related Words
synonyms (720)
Words with the same meaning
- a priori
- a rebours
- a reculons
- abandon
- abet
- accented
- acknowledgments
- advance
- advocate
- affirm
- afford support
- aft
- after
- aftermost
- afterpart
- afterpiece
- again
- against the grain
- ago
- aid
- alpenstock
- alveolar
- alveolar ridge
- alveolus
- angel
- ante
- ante up
- anticlockwise
- apex
- apical
- apico-alveolar
- apico-dental
- arear
- arena
- arm
- around
- arrear
- arrested
- articulated
- arytenoid cartilages
- ascend
- ascender
- ascending
- aside
- ass-backwards
- assimilated
- assist
- assure
- astern
- athletic supporter
- attest
- authenticate
- away
- axial
- back away
- back door
- back matter
- back of beyond
- back off
- back seat
- back side
- back up
- back when
- back-country
- back-flowing
- backbone
- backdrop
- background
- backing
- backpedal
- backside
- backstop
- backtrack
- backtrail
- backward
- backwards
- backwater
- backwood
- backwoods
- backwoodsy
- bandeau
- bankroll
- bankrupt
- barytone
- bastard title
- bastard type
- be sponsor for
- bear
- bear out
- bear up
- beard
- bearer
- behind
- behindhand
- belated
- belly
- bestraddle
- bestride
- bet
- bet on
- bevel
- bibliography
- bilabial
- black letter
- blade
- blocked
- board
- body
- bolster
- bolster up
- bond
- boost
- bra
- brace
- bracer
- bracket
- brassiere
- break
- breech
- broad
- budge
- buoy up
- butt
- buttress
- by
- cacuminal
- call
- cane
- cap
- capital
- capitalize
- carrier
- carry
- cascabel
- case
- cast off
- catch line
- catchword
- central
- cerebral
- certify
- cervix
- champion
- change
- change place
- chasing
- checked
- circle
- circumstantiate
- climb
- climb on
- close
- colophon
- come after
- come last
- commend
- confirm
- consonant
- consonantal
- contents
- contents page
- continuant
- copyright page
- corroborate
- corset
- counter
- counterclockwise
- countermarch
- countersecure
- cover
- cradle
- crook
- crush
- crutch
- cry up
- cushion
- deceitfully
- dedication
- defeat
- delayed
- delayed-action
- dental
- deny
- descend
- descender
- descending
- destroy
- detained
- disavow
- disown
- disregard
- dissimilated
- distance
- distant
- document
- dorsal
- dorsal region
- dorsum
- down-trending
- downward
- drifting
- drive
- due
- early
- ebb
- elect
- em
- en
- encourage
- endleaf
- endorse
- endpaper
- endsheet
- ensure
- errata
- ex post facto
- extremity
- face
- fade
- fail
- fall astern
- fall back
- fall behind
- fat-faced type
- feet
- field
- finance
- flat
- flow
- flowing
- fluent
- flying
- flyleaf
- folio
- follow
- following
- font
- for a consideration
- fore edge
- foreword
- forsake
- fortify
- foundation garment
- fro
- front
- front matter
- frontier
- fulcrum
- fund
- furtively
- gamble
- get behind
- get in
- get in behind
- get on
- get over
- girdle
- give support
- glide
- glossal
- glottal
- go
- go aboard
- go around
- go astern
- go back
- go back on
- go backwards
- go into reverse
- go on board
- go round
- go sideways
- going
- gone by
- gorge
- groove
- ground
- grubstake
- guarantee
- guaranty
- guttural
- guy
- guywire
- gyrate
- gyrational
- gyratory
- half-title page
- hard
- hard palate
- hard pressed
- hazard
- head
- heavy
- heel
- held up
- help
- helpless
- high
- hind
- hind end
- hind part
- hinder
- hindermost
- hindhand
- hindhead
- hindmost
- hindward
- hindwards
- hinterland
- hold
- hold up
- hop in
- hung up
- hype
- ignore
- imprint
- in a bind
- in abeyance
- in arrear
- in arrears
- in back of
- in compensation
- in consideration
- in reserve
- in return
- in reverse
- in times past
- index
- indorse
- inscription
- insidiously
- insure
- into the past
- intonated
- introduction
- invest in
- isolated
- italic
- jammed
- jock
- jockstrap
- jump in
- keep afloat
- keep up
- labial
- labiodental
- labiovelar
- lag behind
- larynx
- late
- lateral
- latish
- lax
- lay
- lay a wager
- lay down
- leaf
- lend support
- letter
- ligature
- light
- lingual
- lips
- liquid
- locale
- logotype
- loin
- low
- lower case
- mainstay
- maintain
- maintainer
- majuscule
- make a bet
- make sternway
- makeup
- mast
- master
- mature
- meet a bet
- mid
- minuscule
- mise-en-scene
- monophthongal
- moratory
- mount
- mounting
- move
- move over
- muted
- narrow
- nasal
- nasal cavity
- nasalized
- neck
- never on time
- nick
- nominate
- obstructed
- occiput
- occlusive
- open
- oral cavity
- outback
- outlandish
- outlying
- outstanding
- overcome
- overdue
- owed
- owing
- oxytone
- page
- palatal
- palatalized
- palate
- parlay
- pass
- passing
- past due
- patronize
- pay for
- payable
- pharyngeal
- pharyngeal cavity
- pharyngealized
- pharynx
- phonemic
- phonetic
- phonic
- pi
- pica
- pile in
- pillow
- pitch
- pitched
- play against
- plug
- plunge
- plunging
- point
- posterior
- postern
- posttonic
- preface
- preliminaries
- primitive
- privately
- probate
- progress
- progressive
- promote
- prop
- prove
- provide for
- puff
- punt
- pursuing
- rachis
- ratify
- raw
- rear
- rear end
- rearmost
- rearward
- rearwards
- receivable
- recommend
- recto
- redeemable
- refinance
- reflex
- reflowing
- refluent
- regress
- regressive
- reinforce
- reinforcement
- reinforcer
- reject
- reminiscently
- remote
- renege
- repudiate
- rest
- resting place
- retarded
- retract
- retrad
- retral
- retreat
- retroactive
- retroactively
- retrocede
- retroflex
- retrograde
- retrogress
- retrogressive
- retrospective
- retrospectively
- reverse
- reversed
- reverso
- revert
- ridge
- rigging
- rigidify
- rise
- rising
- roman
- rotary
- rotate
- rotational
- rotatory
- rough
- round
- round about
- rounded
- ruin
- run
- run interference for
- running
- running title
- rushing
- sans serif
- scene
- screw up
- script
- second
- secretly
- secure
- see
- semivowel
- service
- set up
- setting
- shank
- shift
- shore
- shore up
- shoulder
- shroud
- side with
- sideward
- sign
- sign for
- signature
- since
- sink
- sinking
- slow
- slyly
- small cap
- small capital
- sneakily
- soar
- soaring
- soft
- soft palate
- sonant
- speak highly of
- speak warmly of
- speak well of
- speech organ
- spin
- spinal column
- spine
- sponsor
- sprit
- staff
- stage
- stage set
- stage setting
- stake
- stamp
- stand back of
- stand behind
- stand by
- stand pat
- stand up for
- standing rigging
- stave
- stay
- stem
- stern
- stick
- stick by
- stick up for
- stiffen
- stiffener
- stir
- stopped
- stream
- streaming
- strengthen
- strengthener
- stressed
- strong
- subscribe to
- subside
- subsidize
- substantiate
- subtitle
- subvene
- subvention
- support
- supporter
- surd
- surreptitiously
- sustain
- sustainer
- syllabic
- sylvan
- syrinx
- table of contents
- tail
- tail end
- tailpiece
- take sides with
- tardy
- teeth
- teeth ridge
- tense
- text
- theater
- thick
- throaty
- tighten
- tip
- title
- title page
- to the rear
- tonal
- tongue
- tonic
- tout
- trail
- trail behind
- travel
- treacherously
- trice up
- trim size
- turned around
- twangy
- type
- type body
- type class
- type lice
- type page
- typecase
- typeface
- typefounders
- typefoundry
- unaccented
- uncivilized
- uncultivated
- underbrace
- undergird
- underlie
- underpin
- underset
- undersign
- underwrite
- undeveloped
- uninhabited
- unoccupied
- unpaid
- unpopulated
- unpunctual
- unready
- unrounded
- unsettled
- unstressed
- untimely
- up-country
- up-trending
- upbear
- uphold
- upholder
- upkeep
- upper case
- upward
- validate
- vanquish
- velar
- velum
- verify
- verso
- vertebrae
- vertebral column
- virgin
- vocal chink
- vocal cords
- vocal folds
- vocal processes
- vocalic
- vocoid
- voice box
- voiced
- voiceless
- vote
- vowel
- vowellike
- wager
- walking stick
- wane
- warrant
- waste
- weak
- whirl
- widdershins
- wide
- wild
- wilderness
- withdraw from
- without hope
- woodland
- wrong-way
- wrong-way around
equivalents (12)
Other words for 'back'
hypernyms (17)
Words that are more generic or abstract
same context (56)
Words that are found in similar contexts
- '_in
- PTC
- above
- after
- answer
- away
- below
- blue
- buy
- care
- care!
- chaser
- circle
- crescentic
- curt
- down
- en
- end
- exercise
- fifth
- forth
- front
- gone
- high
- hill
- l
- latter
- narrow
- negative
- niente
- off
- over
- parliamentary
- possession
- principal
- rear
- redimere
- reference
- review
- running
- several
- short
- street
- subsequent
- therefore
- third
- towrope
- try
- up
- upper
- use
- which
- within
- without
- wooden
- yet
variants (1)
Variants
cross-references (56)
Cross-references
- back action
- back and belly
- back and breast
- back and edge
- back cylinder-head
- back number
- back of a book
- back of a bow
- back of a hand-rail
- back of a hip-rafter
- back of a lode
- back of a roof-rafter
- back of a slate
- back of a window
- backs and cutters
- behind one's back
- buttocks
- from 'way back
- get one's back up
- lazy-back
- mitered back
- paneled back
- repeating back
- reverse
- reversing back
- rope
- run-up back
- small of the back
- the back of beyond
- to and back
- to back
- to back a sail
- to back a warrant
- to back an anchor
- to back and fill
- to back astern
- to back down
- to back out
- to back the oars
- to back the worming
- to back up
- to back water
- to be on another's back
- to be on one's
- to bow down the back
- to break the back
- to cast behind the back
- to get one's back up
- to give a back
- to make a back
- to see the back of
- to send back
- to take the back track
- to turn the back on one
- to whip back
- vault
rhymes (64)
Words with the same terminal sound
- Adak
- Black
- Braque
- Chirac
- Jack
- Jacques
- Lak
- Mac
- Mack
- Macke
- Sac
- Zack
- Zak
- aback
- ack
- attack
- black
- brack
- clack
- crack
- dak
- fac
- flack
- flak
- hack
- haque
- jack
- knack
- knick-knack
- lac
- lack
- lak
- mac
- mack
- mak
- nack
- pac
- pack
- pak
- plack
- plaque
- quack
- rack
- repack
- sac
- sack
- sak
- shack
- slack
- smack
- snack
- spack
- stack
- tac
- tack
- track
- unpack
- wack
- whack
- wrack
- yack
- yak
- zack
- zak
brobbins commented on the word back
after, following, imitating
July 22, 2009