walk back

verb

walked back; walking back; walks back

transitive verb

: to retreat from or distance oneself from (a previously stated opinion or position)

… try not to say anything in the primary campaign that you might need to walk back in the general election.—

The Progressive Populist

… has tried to walk back his suggestion about Japan, in particular, claiming in recent days that he "never said" that the Asian nation should acquire nuclear weapons.—

Julian Hattem

Examples of walk back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Hurricane Chris wound up walking back his sentiments during an interview on the local news a few days later. —

Regina Cho, VIBE.com, 10 Sep. 2024 All three models are available now in limited sizes, as Panasonic begins its slow walk back to competing against LG, Samsung, and Sony. —

Ryan Waniata, WIRED, 4 Sep. 2024 A week and one giant stock market correction later, the Bank of Japan sent out another official to walk back those comments and try to calm investors. —

Allison Morrow, CNN, 8 Aug. 2024 The walk back to their car felt extremely unsafe as an intense wind storm broke out. —

Alyssa Goldberg, USA TODAY, 15 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for walk back

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'walk back.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.