back-and-forth

Also found in: Idioms.

back and forth

adv.
1. Backward and forward; to and fro: went back and forth in the rocking chair.
2. From side to side: paced back and forth across the room.

back′-and-forth′ n. & adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

back′-and-forth′



adj.
backward and forward; to and fro.
[1605–15]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive
This back-and-forth motion is an apt metaphor for the state of heightened awareness one achieves when attempting to reconcile the "opposed ideas" in any of Rosen's works.
How did the can do its back-and-forth rolling trick?
But beginning on June 23, 2001, B15A skittered westward for several days before becoming stuck again about 5 km away and resuming its small, back-and-forth movements.
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