beat back
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Themes may emerge: how you beat back adversity, sacrificed for others or discovered new ways to love.
From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026
Norwegian family drama, Sentimental Value, beat back stiff competition in the best film not in the English language category, including Brazilian thriller The Secret Agent.
From BBC • Feb. 22, 2026
America’s biotech industry supports more than 10 million jobs, $3 trillion in economic output and gives America the capability to beat back pandemics and defeat biological warfare.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 19, 2026
If you opt for private sessions, there’s a misconception that it will involve revealing your innermost secrets, perhaps while lying on a couch, as a therapist prods you to beat back your demons.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 7, 2026
Mother would beat back illness with a broom.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
