back foot
Britishnoun
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.
But parts of the 600-mile front line are now contested in both directions, unlike in 2025, when Ukraine was on the back foot almost everywhere.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
Daniel Jacobs, the communication director for The Science Coalition, said the board’s wipeout actually hurts the country, and puts it on the back foot.
From Salon • May 2, 2026
Creed said she has always been on the back foot because she races with second-hand parts.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026
Dortmund had lost their last five matches in Leipzig and were on the back foot early when Yan Diomande carved through some heavy-legged defenders and found Baumgartner, who tapped home.
From Barron's • Feb. 21, 2026
Joon leapt forward, and then just as it looked like he might clear, his back foot caught a branch.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
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.
