take back
Britishverb
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to retract or withdraw (something said, written, promised, etc)
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to regain possession of
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to return for exchange
to take back a substandard garment
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to accept (someone) back (into one's home, affections, etc)
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to remind one of the past; cause one to reminisce
that tune really takes me back
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(also intr) printing to move (copy) to the previous line
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Retract a statement, as in I said you weren't much of a cook but after that dinner I take it all back . This usage was first recorded in 1775.
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take one back . Return in thought to a past time, as in That music takes me back to the first dance I ever went to . [Late 1800s]
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.
“To the independent filmmakers here, it’s time to take back power.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
“I mean, I knew even then, it wasn’t my best story. It was something that I immediately wanted to take back and do over again.”
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
The three Myanmar Navy ships left Malaysia on Tuesday carrying 1,476 migrants, according to the Myanmar government -- the first of 5,000 that Anwar says Myanmar agreed to take back.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
“Oil, rates, and geopolitics dominated the conversation in September. Earnings and company-specific fundamentals are about to take back the calendar.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
He continued: “I can’t take back my actions. I can only live from this day on in service to others in remorseful remembrance of James Furfaro and Keith O’Dell.”
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
