pushback

See also: Pushback, push-back, and push back

English

Alternative forms

• push back, push-back

Etymology

From push +‎ back, or push back.

Noun

pushback (countable and uncountable, plural pushbacks)

1. The act of repelling an enemy, etc.
2. (aviation) A procedure in which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from the gate by some external force, usually a special tractor.
3. (figurative) A reversal or reduction.
   • 2023 October 10, Senay Boztas, “Frans Timmermans urges European left to unite against right’s climate backlash”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 October 2026:

     Sweden, as well as the UK, recently announced pushbacks on green targets and budgets, while there are negative noises from Germany on building insulation costs.

4. (figurative) Criticism of or resistance to a proposal, stance, or event.
   • 2006 March 1, Peter Grier, “More pushback from Hill on eavesdropping”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[2], Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 October 2024:

     More pushback from Hill on eavesdropping [title]

   • 2006 September 29, E. J. Dionne Jr., “Why Bill Clinton Pushed Back”, in The Washington Post‎^[3], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 December 2024:

     Moreover, when Democrats, notably former House minority leader Richard Gephardt, finally put their heads up in the late spring of 2002 to ask questions about that Aug. 6, 2001, memo warning of the possibility of terrorist attacks, the Republican pushback was furious.

   • 2014 December 19, Paul M Farber, “Die-ins demand that we bear witness to black people's fears that they'll be next”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[4], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2026:

     We’ve seen that before, too: civil rights era sit-ins and freedom rides with multiracial participants drew the fierce ire of authorities alike, but black protesters were far more likely to be targeted with harsh jail sentences and violent pushback.

   • 2023 July 9, AP, quoting Chris Gloninger, “‘You should have seen this note’: US meteorologists harassed for reporting on climate crisis”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[5], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2026:

     “I started just connecting the dots between extreme weather and climate change, and then the volume of pushback started to increase quite dramatically,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

   • 2023 August 9, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, in RAIL, number 989, page 3:

     Obsessed only with cost, 'Sir Humphrey' saw that Transport for London 'got away' with ticket office closures on the Tube with only minor public pushback and miscalculated that it could do the same on the national network. This assumption backfired spectacularly.

5. (international law) Summary expulsion of asylum seekers, especially when violating the principle of non-refoulement.

   Coordinate term: pullback

   • 2021 May 5, Lorenzo Tondo, quoting Nicola Bay, “Revealed: 2,000 refugee deaths linked to illegal EU pushbacks”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[6], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 October 2026:

     "Every single pushback represents a violation of international and EU law – whether it involves violence or not."

   • 2024 February 22, Katy Fallon, Lorenzo Tondo, “Videos show migrants stripped of clothing in freezing temperatures at Serbian border”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[7], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2026:

     Jasmin Redjepi, president of Legis, said the “disturbing and degrading” pushbacks came shortly after an EU-Serbian border cooperation summit, aimed at strengthening the Serbian border against people-smuggling operations.

6. (television, US) Squashing the main video channel into part of the screen to allow another video feed to be played simultaneously; especially, to squeeze the credits of a show in order to play adverts.

   Synonym: (UK) squeeze

   • 2018 October 5, Michael P. Hill, “NBC forgoes complete brand overhaul, but does add new vanity card”, in Newscast Studio‎^[8], archived from the original on 29 May 2026:

     CBS’s new brand identity end credits “pushback”

Descendants

• → Dutch: pushback
• → German: Pushback

Further reading

• pushback (aviation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• pushback (migration) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

From English pushback.

Noun

pushback m (plural pushbacks, diminutive pushbackje n)

1. (aviation) pushback
2. pushback (the pushing back of refugees and migrants)

Derived terms

• (pushing back of refugees and migrants): pushbackbeleid

Polish

Alternative forms

• push-back, push back

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English pushback. First attested in the 2020s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpuʐ.bɛk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uʐbɛk
• Syllabification: push‧back

Noun

pushback m inan

1. (neologism, international law) pushback (summary expulsion of asylum seekers, especially when violating the principle of non-refoulement)

Declension

Declension of pushback

	singular	plural
nominative	pushback	pushbacki
genitive	pushbacku	pushbacków
dative	pushbackowi	pushbackom
accusative	pushback	pushbacki
instrumental	pushbackiem	pushbackami
locative	pushbacku	pushbackach
vocative	pushbacku	pushbacki

Further reading

• “pushback”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[9] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pushback at Obserwatorium językowe Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego