beat back

1. Force to retreat or withdraw, as in His findings beat back all their arguments to the contrary. This phrase was often used in a military context (and still is), as in Their armies were beaten back. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

Jerusalem beat back the Soviet clients with Washington’s help, and the U.S. won the Cold War battle for the Middle East.

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After raising rates to beat back inflation in 2022-23, the Fed began cutting rates last year and the Dow has surged to record after record.

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A civil defense official in Las Vegas, Nevada, recommended the formation of a five-thousand-man militia—not to fight Russians, but to beat back Californians who might arrive once the bombs began to fall.

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With the industry’s greater wealth has come greater political heft, allowing it to beat back several attempts to tighten regulations under DSHEA.

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Now, as civil rights are being beaten back to … backwardness by small-minded politicians, there’s a timely element to this perfectly decent, good-hearted, unsurprisingly sentimental miniseries.

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Related Words

• chase away www.thesaurus.com
• confront 
• drive away www.thesaurus.com
• drive off 
• fend off www.thesaurus.com
• rebuff 
• resist 
• withstand