fall back on

1. Also, fall back upon. Rely on, have recourse to, as in I fall back on old friends in time of need, or When he lost his job he had to fall back upon his savings. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

They did not have any savings to fall back on and, to make matters worse, Leslee's elderly mother was in charge of the company accounts and she blamed herself until the theft was uncovered.

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Newcastle could at least fall back on their solidity as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following shutouts against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.

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While Google-parent Alphabet is exceeding Meta in AI capex, raising its 2025 guidance to a range of $91 billion to $93 billion, it has more to fall back on, with accelerating cash flows and over $100 billion in the bank.

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Jacob Mchangama, a free speech advocate and the founder of The Future of Free Speech, told Salon in an interview that these efforts have left the administration’s targets in a position where they either need to comply or fall back on legal protection, which “requires courage” and resources that most don’t have.

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Still, companies can fall back on divestment proceeds.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal