1. backpedaling - Noun
2. backpedaling - Verb
backpedaling
(US) present participle of backpedal
backpedaling (plural backpedalings)
The act of distancing oneself from a previously supported idea, action, behaviour, etc.; a U-turn or flip-flop.
We get to see it! January 1st, 2000! We get to see... all those fundamentalist preachers having to do their backpedaling when the Armageddon doesn't occur. David Cross
After initially trying to defend his remarks about gun-toting, tabacky-chewing, bitter Jesus freaks, Barack Obama is now backpedaling furiously. Charles Foster Johnson
I mean, yeah, it took a whole lot of intense discussion and a lot of backpedaling, shamefaced foot shuffling, and outright lying to begin with, but they took stock and refocused and made their people work. Source: Internet
The problem is, you can’t gain momentum when you have to keep backpedaling. Source: Internet
Trump appeared to make news by promising that a vaccine for the virus would be ready “within weeks,” before backpedaling. Source: Internet
Yet by the end of the week—facing Turkish outrage—the Trump administration was backpedaling frantically, rushing to say this wouldn’t be a “conventional” border force. Source: Internet