as in to back down
to break a promise or agreement
she backed out on her offer to help with the wedding planning
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Recent Examples of back out
After backing out of an agreement to trade first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 for Crosby, DeCosta was decried as dishonorable, dirty and duplicitous, especially after Baltimore signed another accomplished edge rusher, Trey Hendrickson, to a free-agent deal the following day.
—
Michael Silver, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026
Chemistry read the next week, got all the old notes back out and tried to get back into that.
—Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 24 Apr. 2026
Italy is underwhelmed at the prospect of being named to the World Cup if Iran backs out.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 23 Apr. 2026
The energy put into a quantum system by measurement could be instantly pulled back out by the Hamiltonian and stored in a battery to power other processes, García-Pintos says.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 21 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for back out
Michael Silver, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2026
Chemistry read the next week, got all the old notes back out and tried to get back into that.
—Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 24 Apr. 2026
Italy is underwhelmed at the prospect of being named to the World Cup if Iran backs out.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 23 Apr. 2026
The energy put into a quantum system by measurement could be instantly pulled back out by the Hamiltonian and stored in a battery to power other processes, García-Pintos says.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 21 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for back out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back out
Verb
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The recent decline comes as ceasefire talks in the Iran war have calmed the bond market and pulled the 10-year Treasury yield, the main driver of mortgage rates, back down.—
Tim Maxwell,
CBS News,
27 Apr. 2026
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One of them, a disturbed Army veteran carrying a knife, jumped the fence in 2014 and raced into the White House, making his way into the East Room before heading back down a hallway on the State Floor deep within the mansion.—
Meg Kinnard,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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To back off from that charge, district officials proposed raising average class sizes in kindergarten through fourth grade from 24-to-1 to 28-to-1, according to the district.—
Howard Blume,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2026
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The next back off the board came near the end of the third round when the San Francisco 49ers took Indiana’s Kaelon Black 90th, marking the fewest running backs taken in the first three rounds of the common draft.—
Josh Dubow,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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To say these machines are too expense is a cop out.—
Boston Herald editorial staff,
Boston Herald,
7 Mar. 2026
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Rather than throwing those bad cops out of the union and asking for better training so cops will never have to ask what to do when a fellow cop appears to have broken the law, Hendry encourages them.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In the story, when the news of the bombing breaks, all the staff recall their memories of visiting Boston.—
Cressida Leyshon,
New Yorker,
26 Apr. 2026
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Bode recalled in a video shared on TikTok.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Back out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back%20out. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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