faire machine arrière
\fɛʁ ma.ʃi.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\
The verdict
“faire machine arrière” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 21
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Faire tourner l’hélice en sens inverse, pour faire reculer le navire.
Corpus desk
Index FR-faire-machine-arriere · faire machine arrière · French
faire machine arrière · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 21 letters
- VOW-10 10 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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 | faire machine arrière |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \fɛʁ ma.ʃi.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 21 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « faire machine arrière » en français
Rare enough to double-check
faire machine arrière is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \fɛʁ ma.ʃi.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for faire machine arrière in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is faire machine arrière, spelled F-A-I-R-E- -M-A-C-H-I-N-E- -A-R-R-I-È-R-E.
Definition
- 1Faire tourner l’hélice en sens inverse, pour faire reculer le navire.
- 2Renoncer à un projet, une action.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how faire machine arrière appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Constatant qu’un bateau amarré à un wharf et bloqué par les glaces se dégageait mieux en faisant machine arrière, Makharoff ajouta une hélice avant à l’hélice arrière.
Après avoir affirmé en début de semaine dernière que les Etats-Unis pourraient redémarrer leur économie avant Pâques, le Président américain a dû faire machine arrière.
Synonyms
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.