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.
It is easy to look back and see that stocks of the highest dividend compounders have tended to perform well.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Twenty-five years later, reporters and editors look back at how they covered one of the biggest news events in the country’s recent history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Chelsea finished sixth in 2023-24, but neither Pochettino nor the club are likely to look back fondly on that period.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
“I look back on that now. I was 18 years old and I was like, “What?’
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
I lifted my hand in a wave, but he didn’t look back.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
