back-and-forth

[ bak-uhn-fawrth, -fohrth, -uhnd- ]

adjective

backward and forward; side to side; to and fro: a back-and-forth shuttling of buses to the stadium; the back-and-forth movement of a clock's pendulum.

noun

unresolved argument or discussion.

Origin of back-and-forth

First recorded in 1605–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use back-and-forth in a sentence

Thus began a flurry of back-and-forth emails between director and subject.
‘Life Itself’: A Fitting, Heartrending Tribute to Cinema’s Great Appreciator Roger Ebert | Marlow Stern | July 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
“I take like three, three-and-a-half hours out of the day just to commute back-and-forth,” he said.
How Cars, Not Subways, Will Make Us Richer | Scott Beyer | June 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The two had a heated back-and-forth that was barely audible while the camera was still running.
Congressman Michael Grimm Physically Threatens Reporter | Ben Jacobs | January 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
I went everywhere he was, and I was just off-camera talking to him so we could riff stuff back-and-forth.
Patton Oswalt Sounds Off On Stand-Up’s Critics and Why Comedians Should Win Oscars | Marlow Stern | December 27, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The image cuts back-and-forth between Kardashian voguing, and West giving his best “Blue Steel” to the camera.
Kanye West Straddles A Nude Kim Kardashian In the Wild Music Video For 'Bound 2' | Marlow Stern | November 19, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

There would be none of this shilly-shallying back-and-forth work then!
Joan of the Sword Hand | S(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett
She just seesawed her car with three rapid back-and-forth jerks that sent showers of stones from her spinning wheels.
Highways in Hiding | George Oliver Smith
There was a lot of back-and-forth yelling to make sure that everybody was out from in front, and then the blowers started.
Four-Day Planet | Henry Beam Piper
It was one of the jerky, bob-back-and-forth kind that pitches you off the seat every five minutes.
Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1888 | Frances M.A. Roe

Other Idioms and Phrases with back-and-forth

back-and-forth

Also, backward(s) and forward(s). To and fro, moving in one direction and then the opposite and so making no progress in either. For example, The clock pendulum swung back and forth. The term is also used figuratively, as in The lawyers argued the point backwards and forwards for an entire week. [c. 1600]

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