Meaning

3 senses

  1. (intransitive)To pedal backwards on a bicycle.

    rückwärts treten

    pedal backwards on a bicycle

  2. (intransitive)To step backwards.

    The player had to backpedal before catching the ball.

    zurücktreten, nach hinten treten, einen Schritt zurück machen

    step backwards, in boxing

  3. (idiomatic, intransitive)To distance oneself from an earlier claim or statement; back off from an idea.

    Though initially adopting a hard-line stance, the politician soon started to backpedal.

    einen Rückzieher machen, zurückziehen, zurückrudern

    давать заднююdavatʹ zadnjuju, переобутьсяpereobutʹsja

Examples

2 sentences

  1. They are frantically backpedaling.

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  2. They are frenetically backpedaling.

    deMan rudert jetzt verzweifelt zurück.

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Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
to distance oneself from an earlier claim or statement:
Deutsch
By meaning 3
to pedal backwards on a bicycle:
to step backwards:
to distance oneself from an earlier claim or statement:

Origin

From back + pedal.

From back + pedal.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

backpedals, backpedaling, backpedaled, backpedaled
Base formbackpedal · to backpedal
3rd person singularbackpedals
Present participlebackpedaling
Past simplebackpedaled / backpedalled
Past participlebackpedaled / backpedalled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theybackpedal
he, she, itbackpedals

Past simpleLesson

all personsbackpedaled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave backpedaled
he, she, ithas backpedaled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill backpedal

Synonyms

3 synonyms
distance oneself from an earlier claim or statement:climb downwalk backbacktrack

Word family

1 related words
Derivedbackpedaler

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
backpackB1backpackerB1backpackingB1backrestbackseatbackside
backpedal — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto