blowback
Britishnoun
-
the escape to the rear of gases formed during the firing of a weapon or in a boiler, internal-combustion engine, etc
-
the action of a light automatic weapon in which the expanding gases of the propellant force back the bolt, thus reloading the weapon
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.
Apple faced intense blowback in 2024 for an iPad commercial depicting creative tools getting crushed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
At first, he kept his extraterrestrial experiences to himself, he said, because he was afraid of the potential blowback.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Europe is now feeling significant "blowback", according to Professor Liana Fix, a Germany-based expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
But the blowback has only catapulted in the era of social media, where millions of viewers from across the globe can drag award show hosts for filth in real time.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
He zinged her with that one, and even though it was super petty, all of us were yikes-ing from the blowback.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
![]()
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.