phrasal verb · neutral
take back
/teɪk bæk/take·BACK
1) to return something to where it came from; 2) to withdraw or retract a statement
Examples
“I need to take this shirt back to the shop; it doesn't fit.”
“He promised he'd apologize, then took his words back the next day.”
“After hearing the full story, she took back her criticism.”
Band 8 sentence
“After reviewing the evidence, the CEO publicly took back his earlier accusation and issued an apology.”
Collocations
- take something back to + place
- take back a statement/word
Word family
Common mistakes
I will take back it to the shop.→I will take it back to the shop.
He took his words back to me.→He took his words back.
Say it for a higher band
5return→6retract→7+take back
Synonyms
return
retract
Easily confused
return
“I returned the defective phone to the retailer yesterday.”
retract
“The newspaper was forced to retract the inaccurate article.”
Related words
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In take …
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