How to Use back off in a Sentence

back off

verb
  • Gangs have warned them to back off.
    — Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2026
  • Once on the ground, the suspects did not back off.
    — FOXNews.com, 30 Aug. 2025
  • Once on the ground, the suspects did not back off.
    — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Pitchers might start to back off, and the walks might start to stack.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 9 May 2026
  • Trump threatened to fire the Fed chair but backed off.
    — Jeff Cox, CNBC, 12 Jan. 2026
  • The younger man backed off and Lacaille drove away.
    — Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Now, a judge will decide next whether to tell the state to back off or not.
    — David Begnaud, CBS News, 13 Apr. 2022
  • The stock hit a new high before backing off just a bit.
    — Jason Gewirtz, CNBC, 16 Jan. 2026
  • So does the president back off now, or not?
    — Kelly Evans, CNBC, 15 Jan. 2026
  • People are protesting and the city may have to back off.
    — U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Jan. 2026
  • Just a young athlete telling people to back off.
    — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 6 Mar. 2026
  • Discomfort is a sign to back off.
    — Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 30 Aug. 2025
  • My advice is to back off — for now, anyway.
    — Harriette Cole, Mercury News, 15 Aug. 2025
  • The aim is to cut close where safe, back off where risky, and avoid getting stuck.
    — New Atlas, 15 Mar. 2026
  • Most teams backed off because of the injury.
    — Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 10 Aug. 2025
  • The two moved the pontoon boat over about three steps to the right and tied it back off.
    — Carol Robinson | [email protected], al, 10 Aug. 2023
  • The path of least resistance is to back off rather than to reach out.
    — Robert Klose, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Feb. 2024
  • After a shaky start to the year, that was enough to send stocks back off to the races.
    — Heard Editors, WSJ, 6 Jan. 2023
  • All three have since backed off their commitments.
    — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Nov. 2025
  • Tonevich started backing off, pulling his stun gun.
    — Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2026
  • That scream likely scared off the man who showed no signs of backing off.
    — Jermont Terry, CBS News, 10 Feb. 2026
  • Bessent backed off the idea amid criticism.
    — Jeff Cox, CNBC, 17 June 2026
  • Schneider backed off and let Scherzer stay in.
    — Barry M. Bloom, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Those ahead of him backed off, reluctant to engage.
    — Andy Jones, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2025
  • McCray has made a few swing changes, raised his hands a bit and backed off the plate an inch.
    — Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Just back off from a situation and leave.
    — Amanda Hari, CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025
  • But there are many people in Maine who are saying to folks like me, back off.
    — ABC News, 7 June 2026
  • Still, with a crack in the door, Penn State’s not backing off just yet.
    — Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Toro’s blast hit the top of the fence before rebounding off a wall and back off the field.
    — Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 1 May 2024
  • While the Kings backed off, they are known to have their eyes on Kuminga still.
    — Justin Grasso, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Nov. 2025

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

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