back out
Britishverb
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Move or retreat backwards without turning; same as back away , def. 1.
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Also, back out of something . Withdraw from a situation, or break an agreement or engagement. For example, After the announcement appeared in the papers, Mary found it doubly difficult to back out of her engagement to Todd . [Early 1800s] Also see go back on .
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.
Higher up, you might arrange a bank loan or seller financing, paying the owner back out of the business’s proceeds over time.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
After Lowe’s expulsion, Habib reached back out to Musk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
“So much investment has been made, when you make an investment and you pull it back out, you get the dividend,” Harbaugh said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
"I've never been quite in this position so I was nervous with how I'd quite feel about coming back out," Jones told Sky Sports afterwards.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Autumn’s face disappears for a moment, before popping back out again.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
