Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Backward and forward; to and fro.
- adv. From side to side.
Wiktionary
- adv. From one place to another and back again.
- adj. Going from one place or position to another and back again.
- n. The movement (of someone or something) forward followed by a return to the same position. May refer to a concept such as an emotional state or a relationship as well as a physical thing.
- n. idiomatic Negotiations or discussions between two or more parties, a dialog.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. backwards and forwards; to and fro.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. moving from one place to another and back again
Examples
“The headmaster stepped aside, and Mrs. Naylor strode back and forth along the front window, eyeing us like new recruits into her personal army of pain.”
“Saw them weaving back and forth in the dance: Ishmael and Biddy, like brother and sister, Ish's face solemn, though his eyes smiled.”
“Over the next ten days or so, I was going back and forth with Chuck McGee about how to implement the phone program, while talking to Ken Gross to see if it was legal.”
“These were the tomatoes she had saved from the hail, then babied through the season, spading around the base of each plant to allow the roots to breathe, and trudging back and forth from the windmill with buckets of water.”
“Alice and Silas went back and forth from living at the Picketts' to living with us.”
“THE HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE jostled back and forth over the streets of Paris.”
“She ferried flatirons back and forth from the fire for reheating, hauled water from the pump, and carried wood to the fire.”
“She waved her black-lacquered fingernail back and forth over Noelles neckline.”
“Christophers views were less settled; he tended to move back and forth between more or less engagement, often reflecting where he thought the president might end up.”
“A Yellow shell, holding a newly hatched charge, clicked the nonsense rhythms of Nasat nurturing songs as he swayed back and forth in his seat-hammock.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘back and forth’.
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back phrases/hyphens/compounds
backache to backyard
back-ache, back-aching, back-acter, back-acting, back-answer, back-bar, back-basket, back beat, back-bias, back-blast, back-blowing, back-boiler and 342 more...
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such and such
alas and alack, apples and oranges, coffee and tea, cream and sugar, father and son, forgive and forget, ins and outs, kith and kin, knit and purl, milk and cookies, mother and daughter, odds and ends and 181 more...
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Siamese Twins - X and/or Y
Collocations with 'and' & 'or'
neither fish nor ..., neither hide nor ..., alive and kicking, all or nothing, an arm and a leg, apples and oranges, back and forth, be-all and end-all, bells and whistles, black and white, blood and guts, bow and arrow and 230 more...
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phrases
ironic detachment, get one's leg over, run wild, mad as a box of f..., keep your chin up, baker's dozen, fire a shot in anger, have a field day, go over with a fi..., as the crow flies, leap of faith, learn one's lesson and 224 more...
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And Another Thing
adam and eve, again and again, alpha and omega, arts and crafts, b and b, back and forth, bacon and eggs, be-all and end-all, bells and whistles, black and blue, black and tan, blood and guts and 165 more...
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Most Frequently Used English Idioms
about to, according to, account for, after all, all of a sudden, as far as, as for, as if, as long as, as soon as, as to, as well as and 70 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for back and forth.
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