back four

British

noun

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

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back four

Part of the back four that kept a clean sheet mainly thanks to his brilliant injury-time tackle on Delap.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

Lewis Hall: The Newcastle left-back looks a great addition to the England back four.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

When you finish a £40m match with a back four of Ralston, Murray, Trusty and Scales then, as a club, you have not done your work properly.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

The lack of a defensive midfielder showed and it was revealing to see Iraola use Mac Allister just ahead of the back four after Joe Willock put Newcastle 2-1 up.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

She didn’t come back four years later—or if she did, it was her second trip.

From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023