roll back
"roll-back" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“roll back” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To return to a prior state.
Corpus desk
Index EN-roll-back · roll back · English
roll back · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" 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 | roll back |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “roll back” in English
Rare enough to double-check
roll back is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
roll back doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, 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 roll back, spelled R-O-L-L- -B-A-C-K.
Definition
- 1To return to a prior state.
- 2To postpone.
- 3To reduce thrust without having been commanded to do so.
- 4To retreat.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how roll back appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
We had to roll back the changes to the database because of an unforeseen error.
NASA will roll back the shuttle launch due to bad weather.
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.