pullback

Name: pullback, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“pullback” is uncommon English (frequency #51,935 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,935
frequency rank, English: 46,516
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act or result of pulling back; a withdrawal.

Key facts for pullback
Property	Value
Headword	pullback
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
Letters	8
Frequency rank	#51,935
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “pullback” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). pullback lands here:

#51,935

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pullback is uncommon English at frequency #51,935 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 10 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for pullback, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Deverbal from pull back. The correct English form is pullback, spelled P-U-L-L-B-A-C-K.

Definition

1
The act or result of pulling back; a withdrawal.
2
The act of drawing a camera back to broaden the visible scene.
3
Something that holds back; a drawback; a hindrance.
4
A reduction in the price of a financial instrument after reaching a peak
5
An attacking pass from the wing into a position further from the attacking goal line.
6
A device for making a woman's gown hang close and straight in front.
7
The map between cotangent bundles of manifolds corresponding to a smooth map between smooth manifolds, which at each point is the dual map to the corresponding pushforward.
8
The limit of a cospan: a Cartesian square or “pullback square”.
9
Within a Cartesian square (which has a pair of divergent morphisms and a pair of convergent morphisms) the divergent morphism which is directly opposite to a given one of the convergent morphisms, said to be “along” the convergent morphism which is between that pair of opposite morphisms. (The pullback is said to be “of” the given morphism.)
10
A certain move in tap dance.

Etymology

Deverbal from pull back.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pullback"?

"pullback" is spelled P-U-L-L-B-A-C-K.

What does "pullback" mean?

As a noun, "pullback" means: The act or result of pulling back; a withdrawal.

What is the origin of the word "pullback"?

Deverbal from pull back. See the full etymology section above for more details.

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.

Using “pullback”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct English spelling is P-U-L-L-B-A-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.