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back four

British  

noun

  1. soccer the defensive players in many modern team formations: usually two fullbacks and two centre backs

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

There will almost certainly be changes in the back four though.

From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026

Why did Canada hold back four athletes from competing?

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2026

In the past two transfer windows Bournemouth have sold three of Iraola's first-choice back four from last season - Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid, Milos Kerkez to Liverpool and Illia Zabarnyi to Paris St-Germain.

From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026

Go back four years, and the business was losing money on a net basis.

From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026

The waiter walks by, glances at our wristbands, and brings back four waters.

From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy

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.