beat back
phrasal verb
beat back; beaten back or beat back; beating back; beats back
: to force (someone) to go back or to retreat by fighting
Our troops were beaten back by enemy forces.
Police used batons to beat the protesters back.
Examples of beat back in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Troops deployed by Donald Trump’s orders beat back a crowd gathered in the square to protest police brutality.
—
Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
But as the winds driving the inferno have slackened, experts are cautiously optimistic that the blazes can soon be beaten back.
—Alec Luhn, WIRED, 10 Jan. 2025
That happened on Thursday night when he was beaten back down the court by Derrick White for an easy layup because Edwards was complaining to the officials for a foul that wasn’t called on a drive to the basket.
—Jon Krawczynski, The Athletic, 3 Jan. 2025
It’s taken decades of painstaking effort to rebuild America’s profitable steel industry, beat back unfair trade practices by countries like China and Japan, and position domestic steelmaking as a linchpin of U.S. national security.
—David McCall, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2024
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Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
But as the winds driving the inferno have slackened, experts are cautiously optimistic that the blazes can soon be beaten back.
—Alec Luhn, WIRED, 10 Jan. 2025
That happened on Thursday night when he was beaten back down the court by Derrick White for an easy layup because Edwards was complaining to the officials for a foul that wasn’t called on a drive to the basket.
—Jon Krawczynski, The Athletic, 3 Jan. 2025
It’s taken decades of painstaking effort to rebuild America’s profitable steel industry, beat back unfair trade practices by countries like China and Japan, and position domestic steelmaking as a linchpin of U.S. national security.
—David McCall, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for beat back
Dictionary Entries Near beat back
Cite this Entry
“Beat back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beat%20back. Accessed 6 Feb. 2025.
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