back up

Questions about back up

What does back up mean?

back up means "give moral or psychological support, aid, or courage to". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for back up?

Close synonyms include support, back off, back down, back, clog. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is back up a common word?

back up is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.