knockback

plural knockbacks · alternative knock-back

1. A blow that causes the recipient to fall or move backwards, a knock back; a recoil.

   He lifted his hand in a knockback spell, which would send me sailing right into the zombie.

   2006, Kelley Armstrong, Broken, unnumbered page

2. Something that impedes or reverses progress; a setback.

   […]the chemo had not worked and had gone back into his brain.[…]He had knockback after knockback. It would have taken its toll on anyone.

   2011, Lee Hobin, God, Why Are You Being So Cruel?, page 188

   1 more example

   Despite all the knockbacks from COVID, as an industry we are ready for the turnaround and more than ready to welcome back passengers returning from lockdown.

   2021 September 22, Clive Nicholls, “National Rail Awards 2021”, in RAIL, number 940, page 35

3. AustraliaUKinformalA rejection; a refusal.

   He got a few knockbacks today when he tried to give his resume out at the local shops.

   4 more examples

   The only other knockback in the Port Kembla-Wollongong district was from Benny Westwood of the Advance Tyre Service. He, too, ordered us off the premises.

   1987, Rupert Lockwood, War on the Waterfront: Menzies, Japan, and the Pig-Iron Dispute, page 199

   1995, Heather Hogarth, Your First Job: Getting It, Keeping It, and Going Further, MacMillan Education Australia, page 82, So you′ve had a knockback. All right, we don′t all get the first job we apply for.

   They asked matter-of-fact questions about harrowing tales that the victims had been trying to tell other media outlets, only to receive knockback after knockback for more than a year.

   2010, Chris Rau, Dealing With the Media: A Handbook for Students, Activists, Community Groups and Anyone Who Can′t Afford a Spin Doctor, page 3

   Nicole Kidman got a knockback because Su-Man was too busy whipping a certain Oscar-winning French actress into shape.

   2010, Tony Parsons, Tony Parsons on Life, Death and Breakfast, unnumbered page