backtrack

But the legal arguments in this letter were so weak that no one pursued them seriously, and the Department of Justice later had to backtrack the arguments in court.

From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2026

The new ambassador appeared to later backtrack, saying the US government respected the independence and findings of South Africa's judiciary.

From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026

Mandy Hill, president of the Publishers Association, said the backtrack was a victory "over the self-interest of a handful of large corporations".

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026

“The President has this tendency to TACO,” he said, referring to Trump’s tendency to announce tough policies only to backtrack on those announcements later.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

Or, maybe it’s something I should’ve Googled to find out the answer myself—but it’s too late to backtrack now.

From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender

The first half of the novel backtracks from the discovery of Pam’s body to the graduation party nine months prior, when each Bishop sister is struggling with serious financial hardship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025

To do so, the complex moves down DNA chains in one direction, but backtracks in certain scenarios.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024

Playing over the game, the result makes perfect sense: White plays way better than Black, with simple, strong developing moves while Carlsen wastes time and backtracks to no obvious purpose.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 18, 2023

A sharp cooling of inflation hints at an easier road for Bullock, after Lowe's controversy-filled legacy of painful backtracks and abrupt shifts that cost him a second term.

From Reuters ● Sep. 1, 2023

Garden paths can turn the experience of reading from an effortless glide through a sentence to a tedious two-step of little backtracks.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

In April, Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa floated the idea of charging vessels to cross the strait, but later backtracked.

From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026

"I immediately backtracked and went to the next one to be greeted by the same situation."

From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026

The president backtracked on his threat to strike Iran’s power plants after a series of closed-door discussions led by Middle Eastern intermediaries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

Meanwhile the U.S. backtracked from a claim that it’s helped tankers go through the contested passageway.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 11, 2026

I backtracked, and took the long way to the courts.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Happily, the backtracking and throat-clearing ends a little less than halfway through, and from then on it’s all baseball.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

You have this breakup, and now she’s sort of backtracking like Elon Musk did.

From Salon ● Nov. 20, 2025

"Ten years after the Paris Agreement and we are still trying to lobby," he told AFP, adding that backtracking by polluters was "very disheartening".

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025

In one widely-shared clip, a worker tells a caller the ban has been in place for around a month - before later backtracking and stating content is only banned when it is "abusive".

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025

Clearly the traffic got so bad, people turned around on the road and tried to go the other way, hoping that backtracking would actually cut their losses.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman