go back

phrasal verb

went back; gone back; going back; goes back

: to return to a place

I forgot my purse and had to go back for it.

After college she went back home.

Go back inside! You'll catch cold.

: to return to doing something

I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep.

He waved hello, then went right back to work.

She went back to eating her dinner.

: to have existed for a particular amount of time or since a particular period

These ruins go back hundreds of years.

: to have known each other for an amount of time

We go back 30 years.

He and I go back a long way.

: to think or talk about something from the past

To fully understand the issues, we have to go back a few years.

Examples of go back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Whether that means going back to the restaurant, ordering in, or whipping it up at home, gift yourself the best bite possible. —

Grace McCarty, SELF, 28 Dec. 2024 The bald eagle, with its history as the symbol of the nation going back over 200 years, made a roaring comeback from near extinction to becoming America's official bird this week. —

Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 27 Dec. 2024 Making a decisive and strategic switch without going back and forth will save workers the need to learn and master multiple platforms and from feeling unsure as to how to best reach their colleagues and managers. —

Melissa A. Wheeler, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024 Everts added the incident was resolved and airport operations went back to normal. —

Jose R. Gonzalez, The Arizona Republic, 26 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for go back