Backpedaling

noun, verb

noun, verb ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of distancing oneself from a previously supported idea, action, behaviour, etc.; a U-turn or flip-flop. countable, uncountable

    "Despite the swift backpedalling of the university, the original notice given to stall operators is suggestive of the potential existence of ‘a growing English-speaking elite’ that is ‘happy to maintain the importance of the English language’."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of backpedal US, form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms
abjurearrestbackback awayback downback off

Example

More examples

"They are frantically backpedaling."

Related phrases

u turn

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