Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

pull back

British  

verb

  1. to return or be returned to a rearward position by pulling

    the army pulled back
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. the act of pulling back

  2. a device for restraining the motion of a mechanism, etc, or for returning it to its original position

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
pull back Idioms  

  1. Retreat, as in The troops gradually pulled back. [Mid-1500s]

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.

Snap is the latest tech company to cite efficiency gains from AI as it cuts jobs and pull back on hiring.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

“We will experiment, invest disproportionately behind what matters and pull back when something isn’t working.”

From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026

To pull back from that, I think, would upend decades of settled practice and be a real step back for our collective understanding of the presidency.

From Slate • Apr. 9, 2026

They targeted Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, destroying or damaging one-fifth of its ships, according to the British defense ministry, and forcing Russia to pull back its fleet.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

I’m thinking about all the shenanigans Philbert and I used to pull back in Lansing.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz

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.