pushback
Americannoun
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pushbacks
plural
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a mechanism that forces an object backward.
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opposition or resistance to a plan, action, statement, etc..
The regulations got some pushback from farmers.
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the forcing of an enemy to withdraw.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pushback
First recorded in 1940–45; push ( def. ) + back 2 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the background was a drumbeat of pushback against data centers and worries that the technology could result in widespread job loss.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Companies have faced increasing local pushback to data-center construction.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 12, 2026
It turns out that it’s difficult to squish a sphere into a flat rectangle without some disfigurement, but the Mercator errors have finally led to pushback.
From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2026
In other words, the players and Scott can expect pushback.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
She listened to the war reports on Radio Biafra more carefully, as if there might be clues about Ugwu in the ebullient voice reporting the pushback of the vandals, the successes of gallant Biafran soldiers.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Notice how persistent the resistance has been, with pushbacks in October 2024, February 2025, and again last June.
From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026
Gascón’s data-driven pushbacks have done little to chip at public perceptions of crime run amok.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
Critics say he resigned in 2022 after he was accused of colluding in "pushbacks" of migrants by Greek authorities into Turkish waters - which NGOs said were illegal.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2024
AI presented no impassioned pushbacks or pleas that it should be used in journalism.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
The pushbacks are encouraging criminal networks that ferry the migrants clandestinely, local migrant rights group Siena argued.
From Reuters ● Apr. 25, 2023
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
