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Business English vocabulary · Deadlines and Scheduling

Push back

Meaning in business english, with examples

/ˌpʊʃ ˈbæk/phrasal verbCore term

In business english, push back means: To move a planned date or time to later; also, to resist or argue against a request, plan or decision.

In Turkish: ertelemek, ileri atmak, itiraz etmek, karşı çıkmak

How it is used

Informal and very common. Scheduling meaning: 'push back the launch by two weeks'. Disagreement meaning: 'push back on the client's request'. The noun pushback means resistance: 'We got a lot of pushback from sales.'

Example sentences

  1. Can we push back the call to 3 p.m.? I'm stuck in another meeting.

  2. The design team pushed back on the new deadline because it wasn't realistic.

Common collocations

  • push back the deadline
  • push back by a week
  • push back on a request
  • get pushback
  • postponeTo move a meeting, event or decision to a later time than the one originally planned.
  • rescheduleTo change the date or time of a meeting, call or event that was already planned.
  • deadlineThe latest date or time by which a piece of work must be finished, sent or delivered.
  • behind scheduleLater than planned; not making progress as fast as the schedule says it should.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Deadlines and Scheduling

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