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fall back

phrasal verb with fall
 
/fɔːl/
 
US  /fɑːl/ verb (fell, fallen)

Definition

literary to move back suddenly from someone or something, often because you are frightened: She fell back in horror/disgust.Moving in order to avoid contactDigressing and being indirect or evasive If an army falls back, it moves away from an enemy army in order to avoid fighting them: The infantry fell back in disarray.Stopping fighting
(Definition of fall back from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

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