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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

fall back on en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To turn to as a substitute; to rely on as a backup.
    • So I fell back on the simple methods of the plainsman and Indian and jogged along on their trail. 1907, Bertrand W Sinclair, Raw Gold:
    • Since first tossing its cartoonish, good-time cock-rock to the masses in the early ’00s, The Darkness has always fallen back on this defense: The band is a joke, but hey, it’s a good joke. With Hot Cakes—the group’s third album, and first since reforming last year—the laughter has died. In its place is the sad wheeze of the last surviving party balloon slowly, listlessly deflating. 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club:
  2. (transitive) to be blamed on.
    • If we do this, the consequences will fall back on you.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
falling back on Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
fallen back on Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
falls back on Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
fell back on Tense=Past lexicographic