How to Use back-and-forth in a Sentence

back-and-forth

1 of 2 noun
  • Books The back-and-forth over ‘The Blind Side’ misses the big picture.
    Julia M. Klein, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2023
  • The game was a true back-and-forth affair with 15 lead changes and nine ties.
    Lila Bromberg, Hartford Courant, 25 Feb. 2023
  • For most of the night, the two teams traded blows in a back-and-forth contest.
    Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2024
  • So after all this back-and-forth, the Supreme Court weighed in on April 21.
    Josh Fischman, Scientific American, 10 May 2023
  • This should be done in a short, quick back-and-forth motion.
    Brad Lanphear, Men's Health, 10 June 2023
  • Expect to see more back-and-forth moves between the US and Nvidia in the months ahead.
    Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 13 Nov. 2023
  • And many of you are gracious enough to engage with me in a back-and-forth.
    Vulture, 2 Nov. 2023
  • And those tense early minutes set the tone for a back-and-forth game.
    Kansas City Star, 9 Feb. 2024
  • That had a lot to do with me and my back-and-forth with sobriety.
    Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Watch the co-hosts’ back-and-forth in the video above, then drop your comments below.
    Gabriela Silva, TVLine, 9 Dec. 2024
  • The Clippers and Suns keep going back-and-forth in the fourth quarter.
    Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 16 Apr. 2023
  • After a back-and-forth first half hour, the Timbers broke through.
    oregonlive, 10 Sep. 2023
  • And this is the latest in the back-and-forth between the Colts owner and the Commanders over the course of the last year.
    The Indianapolis Star, 8 May 2023
  • That’s the back-and-forth of this evolving and quite sobering matter.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 13 Oct. 2024
  • The back-and-forth continues until about the 58-minute mark.
    Emily Yahr, Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2023
  • Luckily, the back-and-forth banter was all in fun and for a good cause.
    Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 25 May 2023
  • After a back-and-forth first quarter, Duke used a four-goal run to build a 7-4 lead.
    USA TODAY, 27 May 2023
  • Trump telephoned his adversary, and the two had a fiery back-and-forth.
    David Freedlander, The New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2023
  • These processes can take a long time, said Messinger, with lots of back-and-forth.
    Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN, 3 Mar. 2023
  • Neither side led by more than two goals in a back-and-forth battle.
    Kat Cornetta, BostonGlobe.com, 11 June 2023
  • The back-and-forth comes at a critical moment for Mejia.
    David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2024
  • Then, the back-and-forth between her and Mitchell continued on.
    Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 9 Apr. 2024
  • Forbes chronicled their back-and-forth for the top spot more than a dozen times just last month alone.
    Michael Sheldrick, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
  • The move has led to a tense back-and-forth with the show’s venue, which taunted the Virginia native online.
    Jonah Valdez, Los Angeles Times, 12 Sep. 2023
  • The team says the director’s hands-on role in the VFX helped with planning, reduced the back-and-forth and streamlined the work.
    Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Feb. 2024
  • Just like in Game 1, both teams engaged in back-and-forth play, but neither scored.
    Kat Cornetta, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Mar. 2023
  • He also has been locked in a bizarre legal back-and-forth with Disney for the past year.
    Tori Otten, The New Republic, 28 Sep. 2023
  • As the final whistle blew, the passion of the back-and-forth contest led to a postgame scuffle.
    Benjamin Royer, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2024
  • So what is a person who wants a flirty Christmas back-and-forth to do?
    Marc Hirsh, Vulture, 21 Dec. 2024
  • This fixation is a pity, since opera, like any art form, thrives on debate, disagreement, the back-and-forth of the public sphere.
    Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024
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back and forth

2 of 2 adverb
  • The chair rocked back and forth.
  • The children were shuttled back and forth between school and home.
  • That meant lots of flying back and forth between villages.
    Olivia Ebertz, Anchorage Daily News, 22 May 2022
  • Others continue past her, moving their hips and arms back and forth on their way to class.
    Claire Bryan, San Antonio Express-News, 10 June 2022
  • Continue rolling the dough toward the left edge, then rock back and forth gently to stretch and seal the edges.
    Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Dec. 2024
  • The two sisters drove back and forth between the school and the civic center while their cousin waited at the hospital.
    Stephania Taladrid, The New Yorker, 29 May 2022
  • On the ground in the eastern Donetsk region, fighters battled back and forth for control of villages and cities.
    Compiled Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 30 May 2022
  • Moving all that data back and forth from memory to processor consumes time and tremendous amounts of energy.
    IEEE Spectrum, 16 Dec. 2024
  • Instead of moving back and forth between fiction and reality, Cruise’s music can live fully in both.
    Chris Richards, Washington Post, 13 June 2022
  • The band moved back and forth from a traditional tiered stage setup to a rounded area built out into the audience for the more intimate acoustic stuff.
    Rory Appleton, The Indianapolis Star, 15 June 2022
  • The craft, meant to one day shuttle astronauts back and forth from orbit, experienced helium leaks and thruster failures during its flight.
    Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Dec. 2024
  • Ukrainian tanks moved back and forth from the front line, carefully hiding under trees after firing at Russian positions.
    Compiled Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 7 June 2022
  • Things were yo-yoing back and forth right up to the 11th hour.
    Jp Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Praise music floats in the air and the crowd rocks back and forth.
    Sam Kestenbaum, Rolling Stone, 17 Sep. 2022
  • The two had been going back and forth in the race all year.
    Kyle Feldscher, CNN, 30 July 2024
  • Pull it tight and move it back and forth within the guide.
    Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 7 Dec. 2023
  • Plants sway in the current and fish dart back and forth.
    Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 20 June 2024
  • There was a lot of back and forth about what line would be drawn.
    Claire B. Wofford, The Conversation, 25 Apr. 2024
  • Shahrzad goes back and forth as to whether the protests will succeed.
    Omid Khazani and Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2022
  • The camera pans back and forth searching for the whales.
    Mark R. Weaver, Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2024
  • Rock your rolling pin back and forth over the parchment to flatten the dough.
    Shilpa Uskokovic, Bon Appétit, 8 Dec. 2023
  • The two teams went back and forth trading blows from there.
    Lila Bromberg, Hartford Courant, 3 July 2022
  • As the actors volleyed back and forth, so did the tension.
    Steven Vargasstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan. 2023
  • From this point, the show moves back and forth in time leading up to Paris.
    Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 17 July 2024
  • Despite the back and forth, Belushi filed for divorce in 2021.
    Alexandra Schonfeld, Peoplemag, 20 Oct. 2023
  • Roll the roller from the jaw to the cheekbone and repeat, avoiding moving the roller back and forth.
    Lauren Manaker, Health, 27 Mar. 2023
  • And this back and forth doesn't serve people like them at all.
    Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 1 Aug. 2024
  • Protect your hands with work gloves or use grilling tongs to scrape the foil back and forth across the grates.
    Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 3 July 2023
  • What is the back and forth before the explosion (if any)?
    Meghan Leahy, Washington Post, 5 July 2023
  • It’s been a really good camp in regards to the back and forth.
    Creg Stephenson | Cstephenson@al.com, al, 14 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'back-and-forth.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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