Knockback

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A blow that causes the recipient to fall or move backwards, a knock back; a recoil.

    "He lifted his hand in a knockback spell, which would send me sailing right into the zombie."

  2. 2
    Something that impedes or reverses progress; a setback.

    "[…]the chemo had not worked and had gone back into his brain.[…]He had knockback after knockback. It would have taken its toll on anyone."

  3. 3
    A rejection; a refusal. Australia, UK, informal

    "He got a few knockbacks today when he tried to give his resume out at the local shops."

Example

More examples

"He lifted his hand in a knockback spell, which would send me sailing right into the zombie."

Etymology

Deverbal from knock back.

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