to retrace one's steps
15
4.3
- phrasal verb
:
volver sobre sus pasos
- To find my lost wallet, I need to retrace my steps from the coffee shop to the bookstore.
Examples
-
Turning back the way he'd come, he began to retrace his steps.
Fiction book (2002) -
Slowly, he retraced his steps home, the icy streets empty and unfamiliar.
Fiction book (1990) -
And to find your way back, retrace your steps.
-
- Sometimes it helps to retrace your steps.
-
All right, well, maybe if I retrace my steps from last night, we could...
-
Did you retrace your steps?
-
Now we can retrace your steps.
-
I always recommend trying to retrace your steps to see if you can find your phone that way.
Blog text (9) -
Alright, I'm gonna retrace my steps.
-
Returning home alone, I retrace my steps, appraising the site from another perspective.
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
159
2.1
To go back to a previous place or state
42
4.3
To go back along the same route you have just taken
27
3.7
To turn around and go back the way you came
12
4.4
To think back over the events or steps that led to something
2
7.2
To follow program steps backward to find the first error
1
7.9
To go back along the same route you took
To walk back slowly and without hurry, often seeming tired or not in a rush
Antonyms
How Thoroughly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to go back over the same path or actions' is directly and transparently derived from 'retrace' (to go back along a route) combined with 'one's steps' (the steps or actions a person has taken). This verb + object composition is compositional and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand the phrase.
Etymology
Retrace one's steps comes from the simple image of walking back along the same steps or path you took before to look for something you lost. So, it now means 'to go back over the same path or actions' to find or check something.