to backtrack

Examples

• All

• We can backtrack to the highway or we can try it on foot.

  A Perfect World (1993)

• Now backtrack to 72nd street, and head out to 5th Avenue right now.

  The Park Is Mine (1986)

• So we're going to backtrack for just a second.

• And I I caught myself doing that and then have managed to backtrack quite a bit.

• Today I got a free shirt, I did buy the hat, and I was able to backtrack my way to my car.

• Once she remembers me, I have to backtrack four blocks to start my regular route to my office.

  Fiction book (1998)

• Why don't you backtrack and ask someone there?

  Kiss of Death (1995)

• Yeah, but now we're too far down the canyon and don't have time to backtrack.

  Spirit Untamed (2021)

• Over time and under pressure from Washington, New Delhi appears to have backtracked on some of its earlier initiatives.

  Academic text (2013)

• I spend half of the next day backtracking through Jackson's file, then thank him and leave.

  Fiction book (1995)

Synonyms

G

to go back

vsto backtrack

∞ 1.0

Return to a previous place, topic, or state

is specifically about going back along the same earlier route

R

to return

vsto backtrack

∞ 1.0

Go back to a place, state or activity

is narrower, meaning to retrace the same route rather than going back in other ways

C

to come back

vsto backtrack

919 1.3

To return to a previous subject or point

is about physically retracing a route rather than resuming a topic

M

to move back

vsto backtrack

283 1.7

To step away to an earlier place

involves retracing along the same route rather than retreating from threat

T

to turn back

vsto backtrack

159 2.1

To go back to a previous place or state

is focused on retracing steps rather than the decision or force to return

R

to retrace

vsto backtrack

31 4.2

To go back along the same route you already took

is the ordinary phrase used for this same action

D

to double back

vsto backtrack

27 3.7

To turn around and go back the way you came

is similar but focuses on retracing rather than the turn gesture

R

to retrace one's steps

vsto backtrack

15 4.3

To go back the same way you came to find something you lost

is the same return action but without the search purpose

R

to reverse course

vsto backtrack

12 5.5

To change a decision or plan and go in a different direction

describes literal retracing of a route rather than changing plans or strategy

B

to backtrace

vsto backtrack

2 7.2

To follow program steps backward to find the first error

refers to physically retracing a route rather than tracing a process origin

R

to retrack

vsto backtrack

1 7.9

To go back along the same route you took

has the same meaning but is the more common everyday form

Antonyms

A

to advance

417 3.4

To help something move forward or become better

How Far Back

to reverse course

12 5.5

to backtrack

42 4.3

to turn back

159 2.1

to step back

101 3.6

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology