back down (third-person singular simple present backs down, present participle backing down, simple past and past participle backed down)
- (idiomatic) To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously has or has planned to.
I was about to sue them, but I had to back down.
I was going to sue them, but now I'm going to have to back down.
2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 June 2013:By the time politicians in several cities backed down on Tuesday and announced that they would cut or consider reducing fares, the demonstrations had already morphed into a more sweeping social protest, with marchers waving banners carrying slogans like “The people have awakened.”
- (idiomatic) To withdraw from a commitment or position.
to take less aggressive position
- Albanian: please add this translation if you can
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- Catalan: fer-se enrere, fer marxa enrere
- Chinese:
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- Finnish: perääntyä (fi)
- French: baisser d’un ton (fr)
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- German: nachgeben (de), eine Rückzieher machen (idiom, coll.), zurückrudern (de) (fig., coll.)
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- Italian: cedere (it)
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- Polish: dać za wygraną (pl) pf, dawać za wygraną impf, wycofać (pl) pf
- Portuguese: recuar (pt), voltar atrás
- Romanian: ceda (ro)
- Russian: пойти́ на усту́пки pf (pojtí na ustúpki), пойти́ на попя́тный (ru) pf (pojtí na popjátnyj), дать за́дний ход (ru) pf (datʹ zádnij xod), спасовать (ru) pf (spasovatʹ)
- Slovak: please add this translation if you can
- Spanish: recular (es), echarse atrás
- Swedish: ge med (sv), ge vika (sv)
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