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back line

British

noun

(in some team sports) the defensive players considered as a unit

"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

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back line

Left-back Nico O'Reilly joined the front four, giving them an extra player against Norway's back line.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

The team gets stretched vertically with a high forward line and a deep back line.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

Pochettino’s preferred formation uses a three-man back line but he has no one on the roster who can match Richards as the anchor, defensive organizer and playmaker during buildups.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026

Baxter: Norway hasn’t played in a World Cup this century but it has a good back line and the game’s most prolific scorer in Erling Haaland.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026

“Hang them overalls on the back line, now.”

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023