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pull back

verb

Simple meaning

Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

puulbak

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpʊlˈbæk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity

  2. transitivesports

    To pass (the ball) into a position further from the attacking goal line.

  3. transitivesports

    To score when the team is losing.

  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pull, back.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity

Used this way, pull back is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.