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back off
informal — phrasal verb with back /bæk/ verbDefinition
› to stop being involved in a situation, usually in order to allow other people to deal with it themselves: She started to criticize me, then she suddenly backed off. Just back off and let us do this on our own, will you?Abstaining and refraining B2 to move backwards away from someone, usually because you are frightened: I saw the knife and backed off.Running away and escaping
(Definition of back off from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
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- Advancing and moving forward
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- Arriving, entering and invading
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- Bending, twisting and curving
- Boarding and alighting from modes of transport
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- Evicting and forcing to leave
- Falling and dropping
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- General words for movement
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- Inserting and forcing things into other things
- Jumping
- Making short, sudden movements
- Messengers and people who deliver things
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- Movement of liquids
- Movement on or through water
- Movement through the air
- Moving a long way on foot
- Moving downwards
- Moving firmly on foot
- Moving gently on foot
- Moving in order to avoid contact
- Moving on your hands and legs or on your stomach
- Moving quickly
- Moving to avoid being seen
- Moving unsteadily or with difficulty
- Moving upwards
- Not holding the body upright
- Phrases telling people to go away
- Physical gestures of respect
- Places and locations
- Placing and positioning an object
- Pleasant and make-believe places
- Posture
- Pulling
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- Pushing and shoving
- Raising and lowering
- Reclining
- Removing and extracting
- Returning to a place
- Revolving, rotating and spinning
- Runaways and refugees
- Shaking, swinging and vibrating
- Sitting and standing
- Slow and moving slowly
- Speed of motion
- Staying and remaining
- Stretching the body
- Taking someone somewhere or telling them the way
- Throwing
- Transferring and transporting objects
- Turning upside down
- Unpleasant places
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- Walking and walkers
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SMART Thesaurus: Running away and escaping
Synonyms and related words:
- abscond verb (ESCAPE)
- abscond verb (STEAL)
- back away phrasal verb
- be at large idiom
- be on the run idiom
- bolt noun (QUICK MOVEMENT)
- defect verb
- elude verb (NOT BE CAUGHT)
- escapology noun
- evade verb
- fled
- flee verb
- fugitive adjective (PERSON)
- pull away phrasal verb (PERSON)
- retreat verb (POSITION)
- run away phrasal verb (LEAVE)
- runaway adjective
- scarper verb
- scram verb
- turn tail idiom
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
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