fall back on

Their only request was that I have something to fall back on, “so you know what kind of work you’re out of.”

Now I had to fall back on the area’s limited fast-charging options.

He knows that his power is built on appearances — and he has little to fall back on if he loses that.

At this point, zero out of the two are complete—and I don’t even have an excuse to fall back on.

Or would she become tongue-tied at the prospect of saying those unfamiliar words “mother” and “father” and have to fall back on the same socially useful phrases she had taught the Incorrigibles to use when making polite conversation with strangers?