Push back or pushback?
push back is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of pushback”; pushback is a noun meaning “The act of repelling an enemy, etc”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. push back is written as two words and pushback as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between push back and pushback?
| push back | pushback | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | To refute or argue against a position or an accusation; to express one's own view on a situation To postpone | The act of repelling an enemy, etc A procedure in which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from the gate by some external force, usually a special tractor |
| Example | The scandal is growing legs. We need to start pushing back | none recorded |
| Forms | push-backs | pushbacks |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: push back and pushback in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of push back and pushback
push back
- 1
Alternative spelling of pushback
- 2
Alternative spelling of pushback
- 3
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
- 4
To postpone
The Friday meeting keeps getting pushed back to the following week
- 5
To summarily expel asylum seekers, especially in violation of the principle of non-refoulement
- 6
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see push, back
pushback
- 1
The act of repelling an enemy, etc
- 2
A procedure in which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from the gate by some external force, usually a special tractor
- 3
A reversal or reduction
- 4
Criticism of or resistance to a proposal, stance, or event
- 5
Summary expulsion of asylum seekers, especially when violating the principle of non-refoulement
- 6
USSquashing the main video channel into part of the screen to allow another video feed to be played simultaneously; especially, to squeeze the credits of a show in order to play adverts
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, push back or pushback?
push back is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; pushback about once in every 2 million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search push back vs pushback?
“push back vs pushback” is searched about 10 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.