fall back
Britishverb
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to recede or retreat
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to have recourse (to)
noun
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a retreat
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a reserve, esp money, that can be called upon in need
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anything to which one can have recourse as a second choice
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( as modifier )
a fall-back position
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Give ground, retreat, as in The troops fell back before the relentless enemy assault , or He stuck to his argument, refusing to fall back . [c. 1600]
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Recede, as in The waves fell back from the shore . [c. 1800]
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.
There is no need to wait for excited electrons to fall back to lower energy levels.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Bucket-hatted fans showered Oasis with so much goodwill that the Gallaghers couldn’t help but fall back in love with their band.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Retirees often have other sources of retirement income to fall back on, such as Social Security, maybe a pension, maybe part-time work.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Originally part of a 2025 mission to launch a pair of lunar landers for U.S. and Japanese companies, the rocket was supposed to fall back to Earth.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
But what gets me down is never having any capital to fall back upon.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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.
