walk back

See also: walkback

English

Verb

walk back (third-person singular simple present walks back, present participle walking back, simple past and past participle walked back)

1. (transitive) To withdraw or backpedal on a statement or promise.

   Synonyms: retract, unsay, unspeak, take back

   • 2010, Greg Sargent, The Plumb Line:

     Did Obama walk back his support of Cordoba House? As you know, the Internets are alive with the claim that Obama has now walked back his support of Cordoba House, and I've gotten tons of emails telling me that my earlier praise of the speech is no longer operative. But did he really walk back what he said last night?

   • 2021 June 30, Farhad Manjoo, “Democrats Have a Year to Save the Planet”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     That seemed comforting — but then the president over the weekend walked back his promise.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see walk,‎ back.

Derived terms

• walkback (noun)

See also

• rollback (noun)
• roll back (verb)