get back at

verb

"get-back-at" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“get back at” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To retaliate against; to take revenge on.

Corpus desk

Index EN-get-back-at · get back at · English

get back at · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "G" 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.

Key facts for get back at
PropertyValue
Headwordget back at
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “get back at” in English

get back atranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

get back at is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To retaliate against; to take revenge on.".

No misspelling variants are generated for get back at in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is get back at, spelled G-E-T- -B-A-C-K- -A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    To retaliate against; to take revenge on.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how get back at appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. She put toothpaste in his shoes to get back at him for the frog he left in her refrigerator.

Synonyms

get back onget one's own back ontake revengeretaliateavenge

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "get back at"?
"get back at" is spelled G-E-T- -B-A-C-K- -A-T.
What does "get back at" mean?
As a verb, "get back at" means: To retaliate against; to take revenge on.
What language does "get back at" come from?
"get back at" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list