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🏃‍♂️ To retreat 🛟 To rely as backup 🔄 To return to old ways 🪑 To move backward suddenly 🐢 To lag behind
to fall back

to fall back

8 3.8
To move behind others in speed or progress
  • phrasal verb
  • /fɔl bæk/
translation icon : quedarse atrás
  • She realized she was falling back in her studies compared to her classmates.

Unemployment quickly fell back into the threes.

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Examples

  • Please fall back behind the barricades.

    16 Blocks (2006)

  • All the other forces have fallen back!

    Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

  • But just as they start to fall back, everything happens at once.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Triple E can see in the mirror that the car behind them is falling back.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The high-flying Arrows have quickly fallen back to earth.

    Crooked Arrows (2012)

  • The Germans are falling back from Leningrad.

    Hannibal Rising (2007)

  • When he made to do the same, Pontifax slipped again and fell back against Artus.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Boyd taps his brakes, falling back behind the pickup.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The other runners started to fall back as the pace increased.

  • The soldiers were ordered to fall back when the enemy advanced.

Synonyms

to fall behind
vsto fall back
70 2.8

To not keep up with others or a schedule

is broader, covering losing ground in movement or development
to get behind
vsto fall back
47 3.0

To fail to keep up with work or a schedule

relates more to general loss of ground in movement or progress
to lag
vsto fall back
24 3.0

To move or develop more slowly than others

emphasizes relative loss of ground rather than just slowness
to drop back
vsto fall back
17 3.6

To move to a position behind other players, for example to prepare a pass or to help defend

is mainly about losing ground rather than deliberate repositioning
to drop behind
vsto fall back
2 3.2

To fall behind others because you move or work more slowly

focuses on losing ground in progress or movement broadly

Antonyms

to advance
417 3.4

To help something move forward or become better

to catch up
389 2.7

To reach the same level as others after falling behind

How Ahead

to lead
∞ 1.0
to keep up
507 2.8
to fall back
8 3.8
to trail
91 2.2

Surface Forms

fall back infinitive
falling back present participle
falls back third person singular
fell back past
fallen back past participle

Morphology

fall + back

The meaning 'to move backwards suddenly, often losing balance' is directly derivable from combining 'fall' (to descend or drop) with 'back' (toward the rear). This motion + directional composition is a regular, literal pattern in English (and common cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Fall back comes from the image of movement: imagine a runner who slows down so their feet and body fall back behind the others. So it means 'to lag behind or lose ground'.