go back

verb

1. to return

2. (often foll by to) to originate (in)

   the links with France go back to the Norman Conquest

3. (foll by on) to change one's mind about; repudiate (esp in the phrase go back on one's word )

4. (of clocks and watches) to be set to an earlier time, as during British Summer Time

   when do the clocks go back this year?

Idioms and Phrases

Return, retrace one's steps; also, return to a former condition. For example, I'm going back to the haunts of my youth , or We want to go back to the old way of doing things . [First half of 1500s]

Extend backward in space or time, as in Our land goes back to the stone wall , or The family name goes back to Norman times . [Second half of 1600s] Also see go back on .

Example Sentences

David Brown said that the parts of ministry his father liked best was counseling, seeing patients, so he went back to Yale and received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1976.

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That shows you two things: that you were smart to go back to work when you did and shore up your finances, and that even now inflation never stops eating away at your retirement.

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But here is the thing: Like many other children, Naomi needs to go back because another surgery awaits.

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Before 2024, however, gold futures and the S&P 500 hadn’t ever closed at record highs on the same day, based on data going back to 1975, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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Read: Inflation was eating me alive in retirement, so I went back to work.

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Related Words

• renege