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.
And it is not just in Scotland and Wales that Westminster's two big beasts, Labour and the Conservatives, are on the back foot.
From BBC • May 5, 2026
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
“Markets are opening the week on the back foot as rising Iran-linked geopolitical risk and a sharp uptick in oil prices reintroduce inflation concerns just as rate-cut hopes fade,” says the chief investment officer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
Nancy pulled herself over the fence, catching her back foot on the top rail as she leaped to the other side.
From "Pony Problems: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #3" by Carolyn Keene
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.
