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Fall back   /fɔl bæk/   Listen
Fall back

verb
1.
Fall backwards and down.
2.
Hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc..  Synonyms: dawdle, fall behind, lag.
3.
Move back and away from.
4.
Retreat.  Synonyms: drop off, fall behind, lose, recede.  Antonym: gain.
5.
Have recourse to.  Synonyms: recur, resort.
6.
Go back to bad behavior.  Synonyms: lapse, recidivate, regress, relapse, retrogress.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Fall back" Quotes from Famous Books



... swipe o' men at Amboy this mornin', makin' us fall back mighty quick ter Bonumtown, an' there, arter the orficers confabulated, it wuz decided thet as the bloody-backs wuz too strong ter fight, the militia and the flyin' camp thereabouts hed better go home an' look ...
— Janice Meredith • Paul Leicester Ford

... made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. The slaves who were to hurl stones had picked such as were too big, and they accordingly fell close to them. The Punic foot-soldiers exposed ...
— Salammbo • Gustave Flaubert

... error, to resume his own name, to become once more, out of duty, the convict Jean Valjean, that was, in truth, to achieve his resurrection, and to close forever that hell whence he had just emerged; to fall back there in appearance was to escape from it in reality. This must be done! He had done nothing if he did not do all this; his whole life was useless; all his penitence was wasted. There was no longer any need of saying, "What is the use?" He felt that the Bishop ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

... relation to the body which has been mentioned above. If we ask the psychologist how he knows that the body he is talking about is a real body, and not merely an imagined one, he has to fall back upon the test which is common to us all. A real hand is one which we see with the eyes open, and which we touch with the other hand. If our experiences of our own body had not the setting which marks ...
— An Introduction to Philosophy • George Stuart Fullerton

... not a dominant nature. I never trusted myself as a leader. Leading abashed me. I was happiest in the comity of the crowd. Having received a hamper, I was always glad when it was finished, glad to fall back into the ranks. Humility is a virtue, and it is a virtue ...
— And Even Now - Essays • Max Beerbohm


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