backtrack

He has previously issued apocalyptic warnings to Tehran, only to later backtrack by saying diplomacy was underway.

From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026

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 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

In September, mere hours after Charlie Kirk was killed, Patel prematurely announced a suspect had been apprehended — only to have to backtrack when authorities had taken the wrong man into custody.

From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2026

All I had to do to get home was backtrack, or keep going till I reached fields.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

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

“A lot of us, our hope is that eventually, history will straighten this all out and say, no, Gloria came in a little later, and her very loyal supporters have backtracked that history.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

The United Kingdom, for instance, considered doing away with checks entirely in 2009, but ultimately backtracked after pensioners protested to members of Parliament.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

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

Less than 24 hours after cancelling the summer schemes for children with special needs, the Education Authority backtracked and confirmed they will now go ahead as planned.

From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026

Because we had backtracked, looking for them, we got to the National Palace with only minutes to spare.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

The CJP accused the government of backtracking after authorities had assured them that no punitive action would be taken against protesters.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

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

But backtracking and regrets have no place here.

From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026

Just hours before this latest backtracking, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting – who'd quite fancy being prime minister himself one day – said it was important the government "gets it right first time".

From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026

Because they didn’t want to be distracted choosing which way to go—or backtracking when they made a wrong choice and hit a dead end.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix