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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
backslide
verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Many of the patients backslide into drug and alcohol abuse.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ It would have looked, moreover, as though the Government were backsliding, so a swift change of tack was ordained.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Backslide

Backslide \Back"slide"\ (b[a^]k"sl[imac]d"; 277), v. i. [imp. Backslid; p. p. Backslidden, Backslid; p. pr. & vb. n. Backsliding.] [Back, adv. + slide.] To slide back; to fall away; esp. to abandon gradually the faith and practice of a religion that has been professed.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
backslide

in the religious sense, 1580s, from back (adj.) + slide (v.). Related: Backslider; backsliding (1550s).

Wiktionary
backslide

vb. 1 To regress; to slip backwards or revert to a previous, worse state. 2 To shirk responsibility; to renege on one's obligations or commitments.

WordNet
backslide
  1. v. drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards [syn: lapse]

  2. [also: backslidden, backslid]

Usage examples of "backslide".

Instead of waiting to feel the pull of the AOD on the pin, I kept on looking at the alti, and bang on 30,000 feet I pulled the handle and pushed my hands up above my head, which made me backslide, which meant the air would catch the drogue chute to bring the main pack out.

These declared to those who recognized them that they were working for deep-down dwarfs and, as such, partook a little of the magic, mana, awe or fear that they engendered in the average, backsliding dwarf.

Most important, it would blow the lid off GAL and expose Spain for what she was--a democracy backsliding toward dictatorship.

A man who recanted under torture was unlikely to backslide soon, and in time he might forget Aten, or at least find other interests.

Griffin suspected she had too solid a grasp of what she wanted to do much backsliding now, but she had to realize that herself.

To a scientist, the scene would seem irrefutable proof that the new theory is truethe human race is backsliding toward the primordial bog.

If he's backslid agin, nothin' but my little, peaked-faced chap will ever bring him around a nuther time.

Baron Jordan Teague hadn't backslid so much as to reveal his addiction openly to his underlings.

All three groups have backslid in civilization and appear to be dying out, but for different behavioral reasons.

Proud of their culture, their noble heritage, and their independence, the N'Taians had no wish to traffic with the Federacy, which they saw as a sort of lowest common culture trying to reunite the backslid races.

I had become lukewarm and in a backslidden state, but I was still convinced that it was my duty to join the Methodist church.

My experience in regeneration was then clear and spiritual, and I had not backslidden.

WeVe all talked to him about it over the years, but he backslides from time to time.

We’ve all talked to him about it over the years, but he backslides from time to time.

Keep an eye on her and do the usual testing let me know at once if she backslides.