look back
Britishverb
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to cast one's mind to the past
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to become increasingly successful
after his book was published, he never looked back
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to pay another visit later
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Remember or think about the past, as in When Mom looked back on the early days of their marriage, she wondered how they'd managed with so little money . [Late 1500s]
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not look back ; never look back . Never show signs of interrupted progress, never return to past circumstances. For example, Once he'd won the Pulitzer Prize, he never looked back . [Late 1800s]
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.
As the ash-grey dust settled on the ground, some finally had time to look back on how the fire had been fought and to criticise the management of the crisis.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
For decades, their families could look back at their sacrifices in sorrow but also in pride at how their lives had forged a true American democracy.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
“We’re going to look back one day,” Dorio said, “and see how ridiculous this is.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
I would not read too much into what he said then, because my guess is he will reflect and look back on the game properly in the days to come.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
We can look back and make the era of the American Revolution a center point, then scan the terrain upstream and downstream, but they can only know what is downstream.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
