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.
Stocks started the week on the back foot amid rising tensions in the largely closed Strait of Hormuz, but futures are pointing to small gains at the open today.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 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
"We started this year on the back foot," he says.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
Dortmund led 2-0 from the first leg but were on the back foot from the opening whistle, with Atalanta neutralising the visitors' advantage by half-time thanks to goals from Gianluca Scamacca and Davide Zappacosta.
From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026
Probably because he didn’t throw off his back foot.
From "Orbiting Jupiter" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
