back off
"back-off" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“back off” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To move backwards away from something.
Corpus desk
Index EN-back-off · back off · English
back off · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | back off |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “back off” in English
Rare enough to double-check
back off is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for back off in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is back off, spelled B-A-C-K- -O-F-F.
Definition
- 1To move backwards away from something.
- 2To become less aggressive, particularly when one had appeared committed to act.
- 3To lower the setting of.
- 4Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see back, off.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how back off appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I tried to back off slowly from the tiger in my path.
You need to back off, or the situation could turn ugly.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.