step back
See also: stepback
English
Verb
step back (third-person singular simple present steps back, present participle stepping back, simple past and past participle stepped back)
- Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see step, back.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
Noun
step back (plural steps back)
- (idiomatic) A reversion to a former state or situation.
See also
(rail transport): double-end, double-ending
Anagrams
- backstep