Back-up

adj, noun

adj, noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of backup. alt-of, alternative

    "Despite deploying a contingency workforce of fully trained non-striking and non-union back-up staff, Network Rail was forced to issue a limited timetable with only 20% of services running on June 21, 23 and 25."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Alternative form of backup alt-of, alternative, not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms
fallbackfallback

Example

More examples

"Every hospital has a back-up electric generator in case of blackout."

Etymology

Deverbal from back up.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.