draw back

1. 1.

   pull back or move away or backward

   “The enemy withdrew”

   “The limo pulled away from the curb”

   Synonymswithdrawretreatpull awayrecedepull backretiremove back

   Broadertravel

   Narrowerfall backretrogradeback up
2. 2.

   use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ)

   Synonymsretractpull back

   Broaderpull

Questions about draw back

What does draw back mean?

draw back means "pull back or move away or backward". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for draw back?

Close synonyms include withdraw, retreat, pull away, recede, pull back. 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 draw back a common word?

draw back is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.