Verb
fall back upon (third-person singular simple present falls back upon, present participle falling back upon, simple past fell back upon, past participle fallen back upon)
(transitive) To fall back on.
The most solid comfort one can fall back upon is the thought that the business of one's life is to help in some small way to reduce the sum of ignorance, degradation and misery on the face of this beautiful earth. George Eliot
We must fall back upon the broad, the incorruptible power of national liberty; that we decline to recognise any class whatever, be they peers or be they gentry, be they what you like, as entitled to direct the destinies of this nation against the will of the nation. William Ewart Gladstone
Prosperous communities are much better able to survive hurricanes or other natural disasters because they have greater resources, both public and private, to fall back upon. Robert Zubrin
Failure sometimes enlarges the spirit. You have to fall back upon humanity and God. Charles Cooley
Our present time is indeed a criticizing and critical time, hovering between the wish, and the inability to believe. Our complaints are like arrows shot up into the air at no target: and with no purpose they only fall back upon our own heads and destroy ourselves. William Temple
Theologians never seem to face up to the basic issues; they fall back upon the trite statement that, "God said." But perhaps He didn't; perhaps the translation was wrong; perhaps the phrase under consideration was an interpolation-there are many such in the Bible. Alice Bailey