backflip

American  

[bak-flip] / ˈbækˌflɪp /

noun

backflips plural

1. a backward somersault.

2. a dive executed by somersaulting backward.

3. Informal. a complete reversal in attitude or policy.

   Some committee members did sudden backflips, urging spending cuts instead of expanded programs.

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verb (used without object)

backflipped, backflipping

1. to perform a backflip.

   She backflipped off a bucking horse.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• backflips
  plural

Etymology

Origin of backflip

First recorded in 1930–35; back ² + flip ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

backflip backflips backflipped backflipping

In the bond world that is grandma doing a backflip off the garage roof.

From MarketWatch ● May 21, 2026

Thanks in part to skaters like France's Surya Bonaly - who performed the move illegally but successfully at Nagano 1998 - the backflip is now legal again.

From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026

He performed a backflip for the crowd's entertainment, but it seemed like a forlorn call to the good times of only last week.

From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026

“Once I do that backflip, everyone’s screaming for joy,” Malinin said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026

Spotlights following him, he scampered to the nearest spiral staircase, slid down the banister, and dismounted with an impressive backflip.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

With his backflips, one-handed cartwheels and quadruple-jumps galore, US figure skater Ilia Malinin's rip-roaring routines have proved a star attraction at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026

Figure skating has a long, complicated relationship with backflips, which were ruled illegal almost immediately after someone did one at the 1976 Games.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

But "the backflips on working from home and his uncertainty over public service cuts," complicated his message, according to John Warhurst, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University.

From BBC ● May 3, 2025

When we were putting a list together, and of course Blake is at the top of the list, and when she said yes we were all doing backflips.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2024

I stared at my duck, the smell of it doing all kinds of cartwheels and backflips in my nostrils.

From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds

The closest it has come to the Games was when Fotheringham memorably performed in the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympics, when he rode down a giant ramp and backflipped through a flaming hoop.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2025

But then a Banana got on base and Maceo Harrison, the dancing first base coach, backflipped in the coaches box.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2023

To collect weevils en masse, Dr. Painting held an ice cream container under the tree, waved her hand, and watched as the weevils simultaneously backflipped into the container.

From New York Times ● Aug. 13, 2021

The gold medalist Olympian casually backflipped and tossed a strike over the plate in front of 40,000 people.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 23, 2019

Feste backflipped out and Ella thumped them again, but faster this time.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Since the last Olympics, this jumping, spinning, backflipping sensation had lorded over figure skating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

He amassed nearly 400 videos showing great apes and other primates engaged in spinning behaviors, including somersaulting, rolling down hills, backflipping and pirouetting.

From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023

Boston Dynamics created internet buzz with videos of its humanoid robots running, jumping, backflipping and dancing.

From Reuters ● Sep. 20, 2022

Despite that news, CBS showed Richardson backflipping during pregame workouts.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 18, 2021

And people have seen plenty of backflipping laptops and drones and VR headsets by now.

From The Verge ● Feb. 22, 2019