row back

present singular third person rows back · participle present rowing back · participle past rowed back · past rowed back

1. UKidiomaticTo change or revise a previous opinion or decision.

   Speaking to the Guardian in one of his first campaign interviews, Timmermans said the UK government was one of the countries rowing back on green pledges.

   2023 October 10, Senay Boztas, “Frans Timmermans urges European left to unite against right’s climate backlash”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   2 more examples

   Indeed, part of the problem was that Armstrong was rowing back on so much previous behaviour and years of aggressive lambasting of reporters, officials and team-mates who had claimed he was doping. "I don't forgive Lance Armstrong, who lied to me in two interviews. And I suspect most of America won't, either," Kurtz wrote.

   2013 January 19, Paul Harris, “Lance Armstrong faces multi-million dollar legal challenges after confession”, in The Guardian

   Labour has rowed back from a plan for new rolling stock to be procured and owned in the public sector - with the party's rail spokesman saying it is not a priority.

   2022 October 5, “Network News: Private sector's role in a publicly-owned railway”, in RAIL, number 967, page 16

plural row backs

1. alternativeAlternative form of row-back.