pushback

• push back
• push-back

push +‎ back

pushback (countable and uncountable, plural pushbacks)

1. The act of repelling an enemy, etc.
2. (aviation) A procedure in which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from the gate by some external force, usually a special tractor.
3. (figuratively) Criticism of or resistance to a proposal, stance, or event.
   • 2006 March 1, Peter Grier, “More pushback from Hill on eavesdropping”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎:

     More pushback from Hill on eavesdropping [title]

   • 2006 September 29, E. J. Dionne Jr., “Why Bill Clinton Pushed Back”, in Washington Post‎:

     Moreover, when Democrats, notably former House minority leader Richard Gephardt, finally put their heads up in the late spring of 2002 to ask questions about that Aug. 6, 2001, memo warning of the possibility of terrorist attacks, the Republican pushback was furious.

   • 2014 December 19, Paul M Farber, “Die-ins demand that we bear witness to black people's fears that they'll be next”, in The Guardian‎:

     We’ve seen that before, too: civil rights era sit-ins and freedom rides with multiracial participants drew the fierce ire of authorities alike, but black protesters were far more likely to be targeted with harsh jail sentences and violent pushback.

   • 2023 July 9, AP, quoting Chris Gloninger, “‘You should have seen this note’: US meteorologists harassed for reporting on climate crisis”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     “I started just connecting the dots between extreme weather and climate change, and then the volume of pushback started to increase quite dramatically,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

4. Summary expulsion of asylum seekers, especially when violating the principle of nonrefoulement.
   • 2021 May 5, “Revealed: 2,000 refugee deaths linked to illegal EU pushbacks”, in The Guardian‎:

     "Every single pushback represents a violation of international and EU law – whether it involves violence or not."

From English pushback.

pushback m (plural pushbacks, diminutive pushbackje n)

1. the pushing back of a plane by a pushback tractor to help it manoeuver
2. the pushing back of refugees and migrants

• (pushing back of refugees and migrants): pushbackbeleid