go back
Britishverb
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to return
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(often foll by to) to originate (in)
the links with France go back to the Norman Conquest
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(foll by on) to change one's mind about; repudiate (esp in the phrase go back on one's word )
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(of clocks and watches) to be set to an earlier time, as during British Summer Time
when do the clocks go back this year?
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Return, retrace one's steps; also, return to a former condition. For example, I'm going back to the haunts of my youth , or We want to go back to the old way of doing things . [First half of 1500s]
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Extend backward in space or time, as in Our land goes back to the stone wall , or The family name goes back to Norman times . [Second half of 1600s] Also see go back on .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They hit their highest in 2022, in data going back to the early 1980s.
Her teenage sons, she said, are "asking me if we will have to go back home".
From Barron's
The Green Party's origins go back to the 1970s People's Party, then the Ecology Party, established as the existing Green Party of England and Wales in 1990.
From BBC
I imagine - going back to being a girl as well - it probably isn't something that's thought about quite as much...
From BBC
For his part, Sarandos had been laying the groundwork for the Netflix deal for some time—going back and forth to D.C., said people familiar with the situation.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
