backfill.
To refill a hole with the material dug out of it.
Meaning & usage
To refill a hole with the material dug out of it.
To refill an excavation unit to restore the former ground surface and/or to preserve the unit and make it recognizable as having been excavated.
To provide reserve support.
To replenish or restock due to attrition or loss.
The company backfilled Joe's position after he was terminated.
To enter an online game that's already in progress, replacing a player who left early.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.? Proto-Germanic *baką Proto-West Germanic *bak Old English bæc Middle English bak English back English fill English backfill From back + fill.
The material that has been used to refill an excavation.
Reserve support personnel.
That which backfills; a replacement.
Material in a story set earlier in the past, providing history or context for the current action.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der.? Proto-Germanic *baką Proto-West Germanic *bak Old English bæc Middle English bak English back English fill English backfill From back + fill.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.