a step backwards
backward step

The woman took a backward step toward the open door.

She almost took a backward step, but caught herself and stood her ground.

Another kind of fear, far greater than anything she had known before, made her take a backward step.

It is better than making a great deal of three backward steps.

They described it at the time as a backward step.

He never took a backward step in the face of evil.

I now turn to the report, which in some areas is a backward step from the Commission’s proposal.

During those three rounds he never took a backward step.

Then, with a backward step, he went into the passage.

Frank took another backward step, looking uncertain for the first time.

He took a backward step with each jump of the baby heart until finally there were none.

That word means a backward step, charging the poor more than the rich.

Then he took a backward step and charged up the stairs, taking them three at a time.

The man he'd hit took two backward steps, almost dropped the pig.

She released him in her turn and he made a stumbling backward step.

It endured the contact but immediately took a small backward step.

She began to falter away from me, a backward step at a time.

"He leads the team from the front and never takes a backward step.

Of course, we must refer to the backward step taken over the banana issue.

She turned after another backward step, then haughtily walked down.

The general took a backward step and ran his eye up the length of the hull.

He took one backward step then spun on his heel and walked away.

Blade took a backward step and held the long sword straight before him.

He took another backward step, stumbled, and in doing so, went farther out onto the rock.

"But it will be very hard for a weak president to resist backward steps in economic policy."