backtrack.
The act of backtracking.
Meaning & usage
The act of backtracking.
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 track English backtrack From back + track.
To retrace one's steps.
I dropped my sunglasses and had to backtrack to find them.
To repeat or review work already done.
If we backtrack through this problem, maybe we can figure out where we went wrong.
To taxi down an active runway in the opposite direction to that being used for takeoff.
Speedbird One: enter and backtrack Runway 27 Left.
To exercise a racehorse around the racetrack in the opposite direction to that in which races are run.
To go back on or withdraw a statement.
After enormous public outrage, the government backtracked on its proposed ban.
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 track English backtrack From back + track.
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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.