How to Use get back at (someone) in a Sentence

get back at (someone)

idiom
  • That Carroll wasn't able to make her case and is just doing it to get back at Trump.
    Cherie Saunders, USA TODAY, 9 May 2023
  • One of them figured that the best way to get back at the other was to sell his portion of the land to Black people.
    Morgan Jerkins, Harper's BAZAAR, 17 Aug. 2021
  • Tommy could not wait for his chance to get back at me for cutting his hair.
    Lynette Rice, EW.com, 16 Nov. 2021
  • Even after fighting, Shields was ready to get back at it.
    J.l. Kirven, Detroit Free Press, 6 Mar. 2021
  • The decision to name Milley was a rare chance, as Trump saw it, to get back at Mattis.
    Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2022
  • When an agent dies during a mission, his wife takes his place to get back at the person who killed him.
    Samantha Olson, Seventeen, 21 Apr. 2023
  • Finally, Brady might want to get back at New England twice a year.
    Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 26 June 2021
  • The girls begin casting spells to fulfill their teenage desires and get back at those who’ve wronged them.
    Claudia Guthrie, ELLE, 28 Aug. 2023
  • The British were still trying to get back at upstart America.
    Thomas Geoghegan, The New Republic, 6 Jan. 2023
  • And what better way to get back at the yuppies than by letting a couple of goose hunters shoot their shotguns at 7 a.m.?
    Joe Genzel, Outdoor Life, 12 Jan. 2021
  • The first of those days off is Sunday, a day the Dodgers might have wanted a chance to quickly get back at it and put their Game 1 failures behind them.
    Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2023
  • And so, Trump saw Powell's death as an opportunity to get back at him -- and took it.
    Chris Cillizza, CNN, 19 Oct. 2021
  • Walker: The Ravens will be eager to get back at the Browns after an early-season loss in Cleveland.
    Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun, 6 Sep. 2023
  • That very next practice, South Oldham was eager to get back at it and close their season out on a newer stronger note.
    J.l. Kirven, The Courier-Journal, 4 Mar. 2022
  • Plot twist: the storyline is of a girl who is seeking revenge to get back at her toxic, good-for-nothing boyfriend.
    Griselda Flores, Billboard, 15 Apr. 2022
  • So, what this was was my immaturity and trying to get back at her.
    Kelly Wynne, PEOPLE.com, 7 Apr. 2022
  • The bad blood escalated when Abbott used his veto power to get back at the Senate.
    Aarón Torres, Dallas News, 21 June 2023
  • Greg does get back at him, though, by tapping aggressively on a TV screen bearing Kendall’s image.
    Kevin Sullivan, Robb Report, 29 Nov. 2021
  • Justice said that Manchin primarily wrote that provision as a way to get back at the governor.
    Emily Brooks, Washington Examiner, 9 Mar. 2021
  • While the ridiculous move is first intended as a scheme by the team’s owner to get back at her cheating husband, Ted somehow charms his way through the whole institution.
    Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 8 June 2022
  • Easing into things With the holiday season in full swing, the Baylor basketball team was scrambling to get back at it on Monday.
    Dallas News, 27 Dec. 2022
  • But the court sided with the work’s former owner and an expert from the Met, who suggested that Balthus was trying to get back at his ex-wife, who had authenticated it in the first place.
    Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2022
  • Brian was able to get back at Brittney for this embarrassing reveal during a tour of her closet when the musician asked about the contents of her boots.
    Sam Burros, Peoplemag, 13 Jan. 2023
  • In a quest for normalcy over the past few months of closures, the desire among gym-goers to get back at it has seemed subordinate only to people’s urge to return to bars and restaurants.
    Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 8 Sep. 2020
  • Even though Stanley would prefer more time to mix and match her roster together the Fever area eager to get back at it on Friday and potentially notch their first win of the season.
    J.l. Kirven, The Indianapolis Star, 20 May 2021
  • In a Sunday statement, Trump accused de Blasio of closing the rinks in an attempt to get back at political opponents.
    Michael Lee, Washington Examiner, 22 Feb. 2021
  • The base version of the trading and building game is always a great time for up to four players — at least until your sister hordes all the sheep just to get back at you for that tiny little double-cross that really wasn’t all that bad.
    Antonio G. Di Benedetto, The Verge, 14 July 2023
  • The stadium is as magnificent as ever, but attending a weeknight game these days is an ordeal — leave home at 5 p.m., get back at midnight.
    Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2022
  • Their theme is that the average man and woman finally has a way to get launched on an asset destined to dominate the financial world of the future and a chance to get back at the banks and brokerages that have shortchanged them for years.
    Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2022
  • Many policymakers around the world assume that employees breach security rules to get back at them out of malice.
    Ali Allage, Forbes, 11 July 2022

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

Last Updated: