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LOOK BACK
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Look back upon (a period of time, sequence of events); remember
Example:
she reviewed her achievements with pride
Synonyms:
look back; retrospect; review
Classified under:
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting
Hypernyms (to "look back" is one way to...):
remember; think back (recapture the past; indulge in memories)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 2
Meaning:
Look towards one's back
Example:
don't look back while you walk
Synonyms:
look back; look backward
Classified under:
Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling
Hypernyms (to "look back" is one way to...):
look (perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP
Sentence example:
They look back up the hill
Context examples:
Now all was blasted; instead of that serenity of conscience which allowed me to look back upon the past with self-satisfaction, and from thence to gather promise of new hopes, I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures such as no language can describe.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
When I look back at my parents as they were in those days, it is at that very moment that I can picture them most clearly: her sweet face with the wet shining upon her cheeks, and his blue eyes upturned to the smoke-blackened ceiling.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I tell you, and I give you my word for it, that from that moment I was not my own master, and it is all like a dim dream when I look back on it.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Her assurance, however, standing sole as it did, was not thrown away; it brought a more cordial, more natural smile into his countenance, and he replied in a tone which retained only a little affected reserve: We were much obliged to you at any rate for wishing us a pleasant walk after our passing you in Argyle Street: you were so kind as to look back on purpose.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
And now I fell into a state of neglect, which I cannot look back upon without compassion.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
We'll have to look back—and forward a little more than we have done.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
When I look back to the first time I saw him!
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Look back—you will now garner much admiration for accomplishing so much in that time.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
His conviction of her regard for him was sometimes very strong; he could look back on a long course of encouragement, and she was as perfect in disinterested attachment as in everything else.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Nor, to this day can I permit my manhood to look back upon those events and feel entirely exonerated.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
