step back

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /stɛp ˈbæk/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /step ˈbæk/

  • Audio (Queensland):

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• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /step ˈbɛk/

step back (third-person singular simple present steps back, present participle stepping back, simple past and past participle stepped back)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see step,‎ back.
   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 40:

     Entering Avebury from any direction is like stepping back into the past. Before the centre of the village is reached, the road passes through an immense circle of brooding stones which stand like petrified ghosts of an age about which little is known.

   • 2022 January 12, “Network News: Nexus inspects Beamish lines”, in RAIL, number 948, page 14:

     Engineers from the Tyne & Wear Metro stepped back in time in December, to conduct a safety-critical inspection of the tramway at the open-air Beamish Museum in County Durham.

2. (idiomatic) To stop what one is doing and evaluate the current situation.

   Perhaps we should step back for a second and think about solving this problem a different way.

   • 2022 November 16, Mel Holley, “Rail strikes halted to allow for "intensive negotiations"”, in RAIL, page 8:

     Making the announcement at 1600 on Friday November 4, the RDG [...] said in a statement: "It is positive that the RMT leadership has stepped back from the brink and called off their strike action.

3. (idiomatic) To prevent oneself from becoming emotionally involved in a certain situation.

   As a therapist sometimes you have to step back from your clients' lives.

4. (rail transport, of a driver at a terminal station) to depart driving the train following the train they arrived into the station driving, so as to decrease service turnaround time.
5. (idiomatic) To retreat from one's duties in a job; to reduce one's duties, often as a prelude to leaving a position; to take a back seat.

   He's stepping back from the role to let you start in it.

6. (idiomatic) To quietly abandon a belief.

   You need to step back from the threat you made.

step back (plural steps back)

1. (idiomatic) A setback, downgrade, or deterioration.

   Antonym: leg up

   Switching to more frequent meetings was a step back for that team, which had too many meetings already.

2. (idiomatic) A reversion to a former state or situation.

• (rail transport): double-end, double-ending

• backstep