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.
“When we look back at this time,” he said, “I think we’ll realize that we were standing in the foothills of the singularity.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Nowadays, he finds it tough to look back at that version of himself: "While there's a bit of shame and embarrassment... I think there is a bit of empathy for that younger man."
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
What if I look back in five years and think, ‘Why didn’t I invest in that? Why was I so cautious?’
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
Being a young celebrity, you’re always going to be pushed toward the cusp of insanity, the stuff that people are going to look back on and cringe not too far into the future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
As we look back at the past, we must take these hard, cold facts into account.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
