Climb down

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An abandonment, withdrawal from, or softening of a previously expressed opinion, policy, argument, etc. idiomatic

    "It is interesting to speculate on what combination of factors acted within the Bush administration to bring about the climb-down from its previous position."

Verb
  1. 1
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see climb, down.

    "It took 2 hours to climb up, but 4 to climb down as our energy grew less and less."

  2. 2
    come down wordnet
  3. 3
    To abandon, withdraw from, or soften a previously expressed opinion, argument, etc. idiomatic, sometimes

    "But Ekeus said Iraq had climbed down in its confrontation with the UN."

Antonyms

All antonyms

Example

More examples

"It is interesting to speculate on what combination of factors acted within the Bush administration to bring about the climb-down from its previous position."