look back(redirected from not look back)
look back(at someone or something) and look back (on someone or something)
1. Lit. to gaze back and try to get a view of someone or something. She looked back at the city and whispered a good-bye to everything she had ever cared for. I went away and never looked back.
2. Fig. to think about someone or something in the past. When I look back on Frank, I do remember his strange manner, come to think of it. When I look back, lam amazed at all I have accomplished.
to think of or remember what has happened in the past We raised three kids and worked full-time – sometimes I look back and wonder how we did it.
Usage notes: often used with at or on: Now we look back at the late 1940s as the good old days.
1. Remember or think about the past, as in When Mom looked back on the early days of their marriage, she wondered how they'd managed with so little money . [Late 1500s]
2. not look back; never look back. Never show signs of interrupted progress, never return to past circumstances. For example, Once he'd won the Pulitzer Prize, he never looked back. [Late 1800s]
1. To direct one's gaze backward: The travelers looked back to the city as they boarded the ship.
2. To think about the past; retrospect: At the high school reunion, everyone looked back at the good times they had shared.