push back

Meanings

nounpush back (plural push backs)

verbpush back (third-person singular simple present pushes back, present participle pushing back, simple past and past participle pushed back)

present singular third person pushes back · participle present pushing back · participle past pushed back · past pushed back

To refute or argue against a position or an accusation; to express one's own view on a situation.
The scandal is growing legs. We need to start pushing back.
To postpone.
The Friday meeting keeps getting pushed back to the following week.
migrationTo summarily expel asylum seekers, especially in violation of the principle of non-refoulement.
EU member states have used illegal operations to push back at least 40,000 asylum seekers from Europe’s borders during the pandemic[…]
2021 May 5, Lorenzo Tondo, “Revealed: 2,000 refugee deaths linked to illegal EU pushbacks”, in The Guardian
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see push, back.