climbdown

plural climbdowns · alternative climb-down

1. figurativelyA retreat or withdrawal from an earlier position or opinion; a backdown.

   Thursday's court appearance as he waited for his case to be heard was a humiliating climbdown for the flamboyant Texan, who sports the clipped mustache and Saville Row style of English aristocracy.

   2009 June 26, Kate Murphy, “Texas cricket mogul pleads not guilty to fraud”, in The Age

   2 more examples

   There will be “a cost” to the government’s climbdown on welfare changes at the budget, one of Keir Starmer’s senior ministers has said, as a leading fiscal thinktank said new tax rises appeared increasingly likely.

   2025 July 2, Peter Walker, “Welfare bill climbdown will have ‘a cost’ at budget, says senior minister”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   The reward for this climbdown is Tehran’s agreement to reopen the strait of Hormuz, the strategic energy chokepoint through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes – and which was open until the US and Israel began unleashing military strikes on 28 February.

   2026 April 8, Robert Tait, “Trump may be using Nixon’s ‘madman theory’ – and similar infamy may await”, in The Guardian, →ISSN