To return along the same path you came from, or to reverse a previously stated opinion or decision.
Compound of 'back' (Old English) and 'track' (from Old Norse 'trokk'). The literal sense of retracing a path dates to the 1800s; the figurative sense of reversing an opinion developed in the 20th century.
Backtracking is something animals and humans have done forever, but the word only became popular once we had trains and marked trails—it's a word that grew from the age of exploration and hiking!
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